Thursday Walk

It has been another beautiful day today so my walk took me in a different direction passing the local store and post office before walking along what was once a country lane, but is now a through road and steep hill that leads down to the Loxley Valley.

I passed Loxley Lodge and Loxley House which is a Grade II listed Georgian mansion now converted into private apartments and then walked along a footpath through a wooded area which took me out onto an open green space.

There are footpaths down to the Loxley Valley, but I didn't go that way today.  Instead I walked through a housing estate and back home for a mid morning cup of coffee.

International Nurses Day

The 12th May has been commemorated annually for many years as International Nurses Day, being the anniversary of the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, also known as 'the lady with the lamp' by those that she nursed during the Crimean War, a time when nurses were putting their lives on the line for their patients as they worked in extremely difficult conditions. 2020 is also the bicentenary year of her birth, but with the emergence of Covid-19 the milestone has had to be remembered in a different way instead of the planned events that would have taken place.  It has also been recognised that due to the 60 or more nurses and midwives in the UK who have died as they worked tirelessly during the pandemic to protect and save lives, this time is a difficult one for the men and women nurses on the front line. We also remember the thousands of men and women that have tragically lost their lives already due to the pandemic and those who are unwell. 

images of nurses past and present and 

the new specialist Nightingale Hospitals recently

 set up during this ongoing pandemic situation. 

BBC news

It was suggested that the public might wish to place a lighted lamp or even a candle in the window as darkness fell last night and that's what Mr P and I did yesterday evening. A white rose is also associated with Florence Nightingale.  It's said that as she walked around the beds of the field hospital at Scutari in the Crimea the patients knew she was coming not only because of the lamplight, but because they could smell the rose perfume that she favoured and would wear. 

Thank you for your visit and for your kind comments.  Have a good day.

Hello again!

Just to let you know that I'm back on line and hopefully this will continue.  Due to social distancing the engineer could not come into the house so the router could not be changed for another, but modified instead.  Fortunately the router is visible from a window and the engineer gave me instructions from outside regarding how to unscrew the cable that goes into the hub and sort out the faulty connection. It was another strange encounter due to these unusual times! I'm looking forward to catching up with your news a soon as I can.

Thank you for your visit and I hope that you're having a good day.

Catching Up

A phone call from a relative's wife to say that her husband, my cousin (son of my grandmother's youngest sister Rose) had died on Wednesday and the commemoration of V.E Day and other events  made this week one of quiet reflection. I'm writing this blog post early in the morning before the wifi goes off again.  The internet has been off for two days. On Monday a technician has been booked to take a look at the router which appears to be faulty. Social distancing will apply. If you don't hear from me it's because the internet is off again.

Last Friday our daughter D sent these photos of her walk around a lake in Sonning, Berkshire where she often goes especially as it's the place where her late husband would go fishing. It was the anniversary of his death and, therefore,  it's a beautiful place for quiet contemplation and solace.

Daughter D saw this llama resting on the grass in a sunny field.

Daughter D's roses and sprigs of May flowers that she had bought for herself and placed in a vase back at her home in memory of her husband.  A special memorial rose bush in the garden is also in bloom  ....

....and some of my recent flower arrangements in small vases with flowers from our garden.

It was a sunny Saturday here in our corner of the world. The fig tree is beginning to leaf up. There are many more flowers in the garden.  I was pleased to see the lily-of-the-valley. The amaryllis has another flower and there's another shoot so there should be more flowers appearing soon. Saturday morning was spent sitting in the sunshine in the garden doing some more crocheting. We have to make the most of these sunny days as the weather can be changeable. 

As I've said, if you don't hear from me it's because the internet is off again and if this happens I won't be able to see and respond to any of your kind comments you send until the internet is restored permanently with, hopefully, a new router installed.

Thank you for your visit.  Have a good day and week ahead.