Sunday Music: Daffodils – Muscadine Bloodline

Posted on September 28, 2025 by nicdempsey

This has been the earworm of September so time to put it here. The only grip I have is that you pull the petals off of daisies not daffodils but who knows what Americans do….

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Friday Links: Feeling Like Henry II

Posted on September 26, 2025 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

Will America please rid the world of it’s turbulent president? I don’t wish death on anyone but impeachment of him AND the vice president would be quite nice about now. Especially given the disgraceful way Trump has behaved this week!

Keir Starmer to launch progressive fightback against ‘decline and division’ fuelled by far right. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I keep coming back to the idea that what most people want is for it to feel fair. Right now, it doesn’t. If you want to launch a progressive fightback, start with a properly progressive tax system, make public services work and make them joined up. Understand that housing, health, food and education are all part of the same issue. It’s hard to learn if you’re hungry, health is difficult to come by if you live in a damp flat and are constantly worried about money. Learn that an ouch of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you sorted out housing and health in this country most of Farage’s support would disappear.

‘We’re exhausted – but not from doing too much’: can this woman help us survive the age of distraction? I don’t know that distraction is the only reason I’m tired but I do recognise that 4 or 5 hours on the plot is more restorative for my mind that 4 or 5 hours watching a screen.

The hard right are claiming the cross – and true Christians should not allow it. I don’t want to start saying ‘no true Christian’ but honestly, following Christ is more to do with service than superiority.

Spare a thought for right-royal victim Duchess Fergie – it’s been another truly hellacious week. Marina Hyde being brilliant again.

Why do the children of elderly patients stay away? Loneliness makes them get sicker and stay sicker for longer. It’s really hard but I do think that point about priority is right. Mum has moved right up my priority list!

Steam, stodge – and so much suet: I made 10 endangered British puddings. Are any actually worth saving?

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Home Improvement: A Comfortable Chair

Posted on September 25, 2025 by nicdempsey

Last year Ma moved herself from the sofa to a chair. It’s much easier for her to get out of the chair than from the sofa and we rearranged the living room to suit.

But I’ve been at Mum’s house a lot more and there is nowhere for me to sit when we are watching something on the laptop. I’ve been moving and sitting on a dining chair but it’s not that comfortable and then I sleep on the airbed and my 50 something hips are not that happy about it!!

Ma had intended to buy another chair and finally got around to it. I cannot express how happy I am about it.

Finally somewhere to sit

It’s the Habitat Celine chair with matching footstool and she’s ordered another footstool because we both want one!

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Allotment Adventures: Gradual Tidying

Posted on September 24, 2025 by nicdempsey

I was five hours on the plot this weekend but probably only got four hours of work on it. One of the joys of the allotment is getting to chat to people!

But the tidying continues. This week I tackled some beds and the surrounding areas.

Before
After

So there was some cutting back of the jasmine, the blackcurrant sage and the cola plant which is actually called artemisia abrotanum ‘Coca Cola’.

I cleared the bed next to it of the tree spinach and dying tomatoes. That bed has had walking onions and parsley in it so I left them there. There were self seeded forget me nots coming up in the path around that bed. So the paths got a weed and I moved some of them into the bed (they might not make it, we’ll see) and finally I stuck some baby fennel in there. It’s every much an experiment.

I also sorted out one of the wild tomato beds and its surrounding paths.

The tidiness is creeping up the plot!

I planted a bed with perpetual spinach and pak choi and where the courgettes (which are slowly coming to the end of their life) are, stuck some Chinese lettuce in the gaps. Again these are experimental.

The last of the courgettes, some parsley, forget-me-nots, a self seeded lavender plant and the chinese cabbage

Finally, I potted up some plants I didn’t have time to plant out into pots. I will get to them later.

Next week, I want to tidy up the next tomato bed and it’s surrounding paths, in fact, weeding paths is going to be the theme of the next few weeks.

More weeding to be done

Mum helped me make a decision about the gooseberries, we are going to dig them up, weed the area throughly put some weed fabric down and plant new ones that we ordered last week. One ‘Invicta’ and two ‘Hinnonmaki red’. So I want to get that area sorted over the next couple of week.

I also want to weed grass at the front and move the artemisia in that bed nearer the path, and I have some perennials to go in there too. I also need to trim back the lavender at the front of the ‘fruit cage’. There are plants on the table that need to go into the ground (kale, more pak choi, spring greens and various herbs) so that is also part of my planning for the next two weeks!

I have worked hard but the plot isn’t just about work. There is huge amount of ladybirds on the plot.

A dahlia the size of a dinner plate

The way the dahlias have decided to spring into life!

It’s autumn and I have to admit I haven’t had the best year on the plot but, it still brings me joy and calm and peace.

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Monday Miscellany: Autumn Equinox

Posted on September 22, 2025 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

  • Despite the title it’s been a good week. There was a brief issue with the carers for Mum. Mum told them that I’d be with her from Tuesday to Friday and they logged that as refusing care. She was just trying to time them time and money, but a couple of phone calls sorted that out. Right now what we need is an old fashioned sheltered housing warden that will call in to check on Mum. However, I don’t think that the housing association provides those to social housing clients, just to the private ones..
Ladybird
  • I spent one day in the office this week and yet this week I was told that it felt like I was on top of everything in the best way. I’ve been pretty ruthless this week in terms of priorities (ma, work, sleep), apparently work have noticed!
  • I bought some more plants this week because plants make me happy!
Planted already

  • I’m really grateful for the small conversations I’ve had this week, just people checking in.
  • Autumn is here and I’m trying not to be too unhappy about it!

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Sunday Music: September – Earth, Wind and Fire

Posted on September 21, 2025 by nicdempsey

Ok, so I know I’ve had this before on Sunday Music but it’s still good and it’s the 21st of September so I had to do it. (For those of you confused, go and look up the lyrics)

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Recommended: Cyberjammies

Posted on September 20, 2025 by nicdempsey
It’s a very boring photo of a nightdress

I’m fussy about my nightwear.

I’m completely allergic to nightwear with patterns, slogans, teddy bears or Disney characters on them and I don’t like things with scratchy lace bits either! I’m also the wrong shape, in a country of pear-shaped women, I’m not. This means that pyjamas often don’t fit right, they are oversized in the hip and bum area and undersized around the belly and generally always too short in the leg. So they manage to be loose and tight at the same time while swinging around my ankles. I want to be comfortable when I sleep and none of that is a recipe for comfort.

I had a brilliant run with M&S lounge wear about 10 years ago, but since then it’s been a bust and nothing has fit quite right.

Up until this year, that hasn’t been a problem as I had lots of pyjamas and nightdresses, but they have been getting older and recently my nightdresses have been more holes than fabric. It was time to retire them and get some new nightwear.

Cyberjammies seemed to fit my fussy criteria and I bought this. Which was perfect, so I ordered two more in different colours. And when it got hot, they were perfect.

They are expensive, but they are so nice and soft and unfussy that I’ve also bought a set of pyjamas and they are as nice.

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Friday Links: Another State Visit

Posted on September 19, 2025 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

Anyone else feel that the country has turned into Disneyland for Donald Trump?

The island that banned hives: can honeybees actually harm nature?

How to get your garden ready for autumn: 17 expert tips you can do now – and what to skip

Shrinking audiences, a cash crisis and rivals on the rise: what’s gone wrong at Tate?

I’ve seen horrible things at football matches – but what landed on the pitch last week was the worst

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Allotment Adventures: Wet

Posted on September 17, 2025 by nicdempsey

This Sunday it started raining at about 2:30pm, I decided it was time to go home, it took me another 2 hours for me to get home. There is always just one quick thing!

The main thing I did this week is set up the greenstalk and have a sort of four of the strawberry planters, there’s one more I need to check and sort out. Assuming that it survives the wind this week, I think it’s going to make watering the strawberries 100% easier as I can just fill from the top, if I need to water the plants directly the whole thing rotates! I’m already planning another one for the rest of the strawberries. I also potted some runners and I need to do that in the strawberry bed too!

I also planted out the sweet woodruff in the gap behind the planters and before the paving. I’m hoping that it will spread and help keep the weeds down!

New dahlia

In other news, the dahlias continue to do well and I have a different one flowering. Stripes!

I mulched the rhubarb and planted the one in the bucket in the ground! I also did a quick but not thorough weed by the gooseberry bushes, it’s going to need a lot of work and I’m wandering if I should just take the out, dig it all over, do a deep weed and then put them back in maybe with weed membrane down? That would be a winter task, my goal for autumn is to get the worse of the grass and cornflowers out.

I did a bit of a tidy of the table where plants go to die. I potted up the bitter oranges that I bought at Hampton Court, as a ‘lemon’ substitute. And did the same to the kale.

I also removed the netting from the fruit cage, topped up the compost on one of the cherry trees and did a bit of weeding of the asparagus.

It’s funny last week I worked for less time but the result was immediate and showy, this week’s progress looks much less impressive, although I feel that I worked harder this week, probably because of the rain.

On the list for next week is sorting out the remaining grass near the plum tree, moving the cola bottle plant forward toward the path and digging up some of the day lily. I have some marjoram and tarragon to try plant out and I need to sort (remove) the tree spinach and trim the lavender by the fruit cage and the cola bottle plant, the blackcurrant sage and the jasmine by the shed.

There is so much I want to do.

Fruit cage sans net and a cherry tree with more soil

I think that will take most of my four hours next week. But any more time get will be tidying up the tomatoes and weeding. There is so much to weed but the paths around the tomato beds and or the gooseberries are good places to start!

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Change of Season Stuff

Posted on September 16, 2025 by nicdempsey

I am not a person who enjoys autumn and I tend to act very negatively when people talk about enjoying each season as it is. Look I would enjoy winter much more if it wasn’t so fucking dark for so much of the year. I was wondering why and how Jo managed to be so balanced all the time and then I realised that she’s spent most of the last 10 years in places where she always gets at least 12 hours of daylight even in December, I could cope with light levels in September but by the time the clocks go back frankly, it’s a mess.

Anyway, there’s been a lot of stuff about hygge and working to enjoy the winter and while I’m still not convinced, I figure I need as much help as I can get this year because it’s going to be busy and I’m going to be on the go.

I have a couple of usual autumn/winter things that I’m doing, I’ve made elderberry syrup and will take a tablespoon a day to help boost my immunity, because as much time as I’m going to be on bus with the general population, I need all the help I can get! I’ve booked my flu jab for October and I’m going to register as a carer with my GP, so if there is a COVID jab this year, I’ll be able to get one and that should help me get faster appointments if I need them. I’m being diligent about getting enough sleep, having a good diet and my alcohol intake has reduced too (not that it was off the charts to begin with!).

There is a lot of stuff about caring for Mum that I haven’t thought about because I don’t know how things will be, you can only prepare for things you expect. However, I know that I struggle with winter and I know that Ma and I thrive on routine so I’m trying to make the times I’m with her, regular and consistent. This week that is slightly out of the window, but we are working towards me being at hers Tuesday nights, working from her house on Wednesday and being with her on Thursday nights. I’m already with her on Saturday and that won’t change.

In terms of self care, I’m being really clear about having Sunday as a ‘day off’ so I can spend time on the plot and at home. I want to have at least 4 hours on the plot a week, I’m very lucky because my allotment friends are keeping an eye on the plot while I’m away and have volunteered to help me with some tricky areas of the plot I need to sort out in the winter.

Winter cross stitch project

I’ve started a cross stitch as a winter project and I’m going to start a basic nine week health challenge (actually for over 60’s) but I’m not the fittest and I need the focus on small things to help me stay active and moving (sleeping on an air mattress two to three times a week is not good for the back or general mobility.

I am also remembering to do things that are mildly social and good for me, I’m going to two comedy gigs (Tom Houghton and Cally Beaton) and Paris in November.

I’m trying to make home a pleasant place, and the other reason that Sundays are my day off are so I can clean and iron and generally make the house somewhere I want to be. One of the things I did last year after Christmas is hang some lights on the bookcase and as it gets darker I’m switching those on because they do cheer me up.

I noticed that Christmas things are happening and while I generally don’t start Christmas until December but I did buy the a Frankincense and Myrrh candle and diffuser from M&S because it smells nice and feels cozy. Fun fact, I still remember both verses from ‘We Three Kings’ because of a primary school concert, I had to solo the ‘Myrrh’ verse but the entire carol is still imprinted on my memory.

It’s not the best seasonal plan but it’s what I’ve got, if anyone else has any tips for coping with winter or caring or indeed for doing both at the same time. Let me know!

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