First thing on Saturday morning we went out for breakfast to one of the garden centres we like. We got a small breakfast each and our free coffees for May. As usual my 'Vegan Gardeners Breakfast' was brought to the table with a couple of packs of Lurpak butter on the plate and I had to ask for Flora instead, which the waitress brought over with a smirk on her face. I am starting to realise that someone in the kitchen is out to try and annoy vegans!! For anyone that doesn't know I am not vegan, but I don't eat meat and I can't eat dairy, but the intolerance often shown to vegans is absolutely infuriating. I have left a review on Trip Advisor after this visit, enough is enough.
After we had finished eating and drinking we wandered around to see if they had any Tumbling Tom type tomato plants, but no such luck. So we called next door to an even bigger garden centre and there we struck lucky.
Alan bought me a tray of spring onions and six Tumbling Tom style tomato plants, three of them being called something else and being yellow. We detoured to Fleetwood on the way home for some fresh air and another cup of coffee.
The tomato plants are all now in the 'bedroom greenhouse' until the weather gets a bit warmer. 😄
On Sunday we went to visit Mum.
She's back at her care home now, but still not doing very well. As is now our habit we stopped at the motorway services to get a snack and a coffee, Alan had the free steak bake that I had available on the Greggs app and we both had coffee. I wasn't in the mood for a pastry so I decided to get a portion of fries from Burger King ... £3.65 for a large fries and a little pot of mayo!! Wow, it's a good job Alan's pastry was free. 😐
This stop on the way home is proving to be a very necessary decompressing stage, we are both coming out of the visits more despondent each time. It's so hard seeing someone you love declining and getting absolutely nothing out of life.
On Sunday we went to Booths café for a quick breakfast before shopping at Aldi. Alan had a small cooked breakfast and I just had a couple of crumpets, Booths are always good at supplying Flora, there are no problems there.
Then it was onto Aldi for the bits of shopping that we both needed, seemingly this week I will be living on fish, peas and tomatoes. I was really surprised that the tins of pink salmon were only £1.45, so I thought I would try them, I usually buy red salmon. If it's just as nice I may stock up a bit as the date on the tins is December 2030.
As usual I didn't need much, my cupboards are ridiculously full.
The receipt for posterity.
So it's seemed to be a very foodie Bank Holiday weekend, with a bit of plant buying and a detour to the seaside for a coffee and some fresh air. It's also been a very snooker-y one for Alan as he has been glued to the Snooker World Championship for the last week and the final was over the weekend. Now he's back to the bungalow for a few days of things really moving forwards. The solar installation will be finished by tonight, the gas pipes will be disconnected to the road tomorrow and the new windows should all be installed by the weekend.
Big changes.
Sue xx
"It's so hard seeing someone you love declining and getting absolutely nothing out of life. WOW, that really does say it all. I feel for your mom and both of you. The last 6 months of my husband's life were a nightmare for him and us, his family. I'm not sure what could have been different, but it was terribly hard to see someone who had been so active his whole life, diminished. :(
ReplyDeleteIt's been hard, and sadly it's been like this for over a year now. I really do not know what is keeping her going as she doesn't want to be here.
DeleteI agree with both you and Christina above. My mum-in-law is also declining fast and has no quality of life at all now, which is heart-breaking. I wish that people in this situation could have a gentle end, but this is so often not the case. At times like this, happy things, like gardening and hobbies, become so important.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Ellie
A gentle end would be perfect. Mum wanted to go a year ago and stopped eating and almost stopped drinking, thinking that this would hasten her end, it didn't but it did cause the problems that she is facing now.
DeleteI'm sorry about your Mom. I went through similar things with mine -- although I could only visit infrequently, living across the ocean -- and it is not easy. Glad you got your tomato plants and some free bargains!
ReplyDeleteGosh, that must have been so hard for you, we are lucky being only just over an hour away when the roads are clear. It's always nice to get a few freebies and the things that you are actually looking for isn't it.
DeleteYup. My father was really struggling for his last year, no energy, no interest, and hard to try and 'lift' him. In the end I just did what I could, and tried to accept that I couldn't fix it or anything. Your visits will be helping your mum, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteWe do seem to help while we are there, even if she appears to be sleeping she occasionally smiles when we are teasing each other. We find ourselves being like a comedy double act to get some sort of response.
DeleteSounds like you had some nice food and coffees at the weekend. I can empathise with your feelings about watching your Mum not really living-my Mum so fed up towards the end of her life and couldn’t really get pleasure from anything. You deserve your stop on the way home to set you up for travelling safely. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt's all about trying to find the balance with things so that we can cope at the moment. It's very hard when there is no pleasure in life for someone we love isn't it.
DeleteSo sad to read this. You are in my thoughts ❤️
ReplyDeleteThank you Angela. xx
DeleteMy Dad's last six months were terrible. His cancer travelled throughout his body. The worst thing was he was begging to die. Unfortunately, MAiD wasn't available for him back then. He always said it was wrong that if his dog was in the same position as he was he could end his dog's suffering but nobody could end his. I still believe that the nurse that was visiting helped him at the end. He died just after his last morphine injection and 15 minutes after his last child arrived at his bedside.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be so morbid but suffering affect the entire family.
We don't have anything like MAiD here in the UK, but even if we did it wouldn't work for Mum as she has been declared not to have 'testamentary capacity to provide instructions' by her solicitor, (she wanted to make a new Will so we tried to make it possible for her).
DeleteDo not worry about being morbid at all, we are so used to all this by now, and have all developed a real morbid sense of humour about so many things, even my brother who wouldn't even talk about death 18 months ago. We touch on subjects that would have been unheard of back then.
There's a new Aldi down the road from me that I want to visit. I can go a couple of weeks without buying groceries, though I do rely on freezer veggies to fill in.
ReplyDeleteAldi is very good for lots of shopping isn't it, their frozen vegetables are really good value.
DeleteSo sorry to read about your Mom, decompressing after a visit seems to be a healthy way of coping.
ReplyDeleteToo cold for plant shopping here, but I do hope to at least get out and clean up a few of the flower beds very soon.
God bless.
Decompressing halfway home is working out really well, it does mean that we get back ready to get on with things, or at the very least feeling a bit happier.
DeleteGood progress on the bungalow by the sound of things. I am so sorry that your mum is going downhill and doesn't get much pleasure from life. I am sure she enjoys your visits though, and you can do no more.
ReplyDeleteI got free yellow tomato plants this year (have potted on 16, so will be giving them away!!) I found a few dried husks of yellow cherry tomatoes which had rolled under the greenhouse tables, and found they had seeds in of course, nicely dried and stored all winter. I emptied one in a pot and watered and voila!
That's clever, getting your tomato seeds to see to themselves. I used to get a bit of that when tomatoes had dropped through the slats in the polytunnel (or mice stole them for a feast and left the seeds) and then I would have little tomato seedlings popping up in unexpected places.
DeleteSo sorry to hear your Mum is so poorly, it's hard at the end. 27 years since my Mum died and I can still remember how she was on our last visit to her the weekend before she died.
ReplyDeleteYour bungalow is coming along nicely by the sounds of it.
I am really lucky to still have my Mum at my age aren't I. I remember the final visits to all the relatives that we have lost, like it was yesterday. We are moving on nicely with the renovations this week.
DeleteLike others above my heart goes out to you reference your dear mum.
ReplyDeleteHow petty of the staff in the first cafe to bring you butter instead of flora!
More progress on your bungalow - that’s great news x
Alison in Devon x
The first couple of times I thought it was a genuine mistake and then this time I caught sight of her smirk. More fool her I thought, she's the one that has to traipse back to the counter to get the Flora.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear about your Mum. It must be so hard for you, your brother, and the rest of the family.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a tough couple of years for sure. 😟
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