First flowers have appeared on the volunteer tomatoes from the compost heap. Several on one stalk so I fink they’re cherry toms. I hope.

Thank you very kindly. It looks delicious.

Been through something similar with my Mum a few years back. Did the hospital give you any info on ‘confusion’, which is a known side effect of such falls?

All one can do is to be there for her, preferably turning up at a regular time of the day as predictability is key. Try to avoid surprising her, or doing a data dump of new information, cos it may not be grasped fully. This isn’t the moment to attempt to get her to agree to home help etc. I made that mistake with my Mum, and so did my brother who didn’t understand that my Mum couldn’t grasp new information at that point. It didn’t end well. Also, I suspect your brother & SIL aren’t going to be much use. Try to be there at least once a day.

You might like to get her a radio with simple controls - the twist sort - with comfy headphones. If she’s got low or no vision then having some means of blotting out the other activity in the ED or hospital room is very helpful. Phone apps rely on vision to operate the controls. Boredom and the ceaseless sounds and activity around her is a nasty mix when she’s trying to sleep and a radio helps. My mum also felt better when she had her favorite shawl/throw to wrap herself in as she found the hospital ambient temperature too chilly for comfort.

Clean clothes/laundry, hairdressing etc. will also help her to feel better. The nurses can’t do all of this, so you or other rellos will probably have to do this as required. Also familiar food - hospital food varies a great deal depending on the hospital and the time of day. Not all of it is edible imo. If her doctor agrees, then homelike food is good.

w00t w00t!

I’ve never seen it. And it’s fundamental to french cuisine. Jacques Pepin would be whirling in his grave I’m sure.

Chocolate cake, a glass of champers and a grazing platter of fresh fruit please.

I look forward to the day when McCains or similar get their act together and provide this.

More than one for best results. Maybe a green one and a red one? Protein and carbs appear to have been sorted. I don’t want to cramp your style when it comes to vegetables.

Why isn’t frozen mirepoix a thing? In convenient sized sachets? We can purchase frozen everything else, why not that? It’s just finely diced carrot, onion and celery. There’s a marketing opportunity here - a sachet of mirepoix and a bag of good chook stock in the same pack - would save so much hassle assembling and chopping etc.

Um, time to give some respectful attention to vegetables I think.

The last time I moved I used Man with a Van - only it was two of them. No complaints, no damage to items. And some items had to be carried down a narrow & twisty staircase. I believe their charges are about industry standard.

Gonna have to speak severely to Huey. His latest efforts have been distinctly sub-marvellous.

Frozen fried rice heated in the microwave - a real cbf dinner. Now the cool change has come through I NEED CALORIES! Had a nice salad for lunchies with some gorgeous red grapes after - grapes rn are pretty wow. These were intensely sweet and almost musky - very much muscatel vibes but juicy. Best I’ve had for a long time.

They haven’t ever had it. Current system is more or less an oligarchy, it’s just called democracy so as not to scare people.

No probs. Looking forward to next week though.

Something to distract us all from the doom and gloom shark quiz

I got 3/10 poo

Dammit. Still, next week will be fine too. Glad to get fairly early warning.

Something similar happened to me with the Moonies way back. Made a donation of $20 (big for then) but the spruiker kept getting at me for the rest of the contents of my wallet. Eye opening.

Time to get dressed and head over to my sister’s place for a bbq. Lovely day for it, I’m glad I got assigned to do a salad.

Hugs. This sort of thing seems to be getting more frequent. There are some shopping areas I just don’t go to anymore (South Preston Woollies anyone?) because of the aggro beggars crowding the entrance. Was worse when there was a parcel locker there - things got pretty tense with people getting harassed when collecting parcels. So they took the lockers away and things calmed down a bit. Still a horrible experience having that happen to you. Again, hugs.