My garden in August

Well August was a funny old month, bringing all sorts of weather with it. Sun, wind, rain - and plenty of that, though I think we stopped short of hail and snow, I think. It’s been another month of getting to know my garden, and sadly suffering the loss of a plant we brought with us.

One that we’d had in a pot for a while, but clearly wasn’t happy with everything nature had to throw at it - we were surprised, but I think it was the wind that the rosemary most objected to. But it was a good prompt for me to move the pots back into the border to give them some protection from the sun and the wind, and to help them conserve water as when the sun’s out it’s been pretty warm.

I don’t think this one’s coming back!

In happier news, other plants have thrived. New ones have started to flower, and a yellow antirrhinum has self seeded itself amongst one of the (many) lavender bushes, and it’s been great to see the garden do its thing.

The pot of mint which I’d cut back before we moved sprang back into life and has at least tripled, as mint does. It too though was feeling the demands of being exposed in the warmer weather, and was starting to wilt a tad. Not wanting this, or any of my other plants from London to suffer the same fate of the rosemary meant the pots are all nestled among the more established plants. Though the morning after I’d moved them all I did wonder where they’d gone!

During August I had a week on my own at the house, and it was great to spend some time getting things straight(er). I’d planned to spend some time in the garden, but the weather scuppered me on my first home alone afternoon. Hmmmn.

The acer, outside our back front door, has had a mixed month. There’s been plenty of bright red new growth leaves, but there’s also been a few crispy and more battered leaves, though thankfully this one has picked up with some more regular watering.

We’d got out of the habit of watering the pots, which wasn’t such a good thing when the weather warmed up again. The outside tap on the side of the garage was a bit temperamental, and if you weren’t ready for it it would give your knees a quick wash as you turned it on. To combat this I bought a short length of hosepipe - because of course we’d left our surplus hosepipe behind as we didn’t think we’d need it - and it soon tamed the unwieldy flow of the tap.

It wasn’t all wind and rain though, there were days with blue skies, cloud and sun and plenty of time to sit and admire and enjoy them too. So it’s not all bad at all, in fact it’s rather good.

The tiny crab apple tree continues to do well. I think it won’t be long before the crab apples are ready to harvest - my plan is to make some crab apple jelly (what else?!) when the time comes. But until then we’re enjoying looking at its branches which are laden with fruit.

The olive tree in a pot is also thriving. Previously it was bald on one side where it had been deprived of sunlight on all sides. Here, it’s on the corner of the path and gets sunlight from all around. I’d cut this back a fair bit for the move, but we’ve got new growth that’s easily 30cm or so. It’s still leaning a bit, but not everything can be fixed in a couple of months.

Last month I shared plans to tackle the buddleia which was growing and growing and taking over one of the borders outside the gate. I’d hoped to pot it on and save it, but when I started to cut it back once the flowers had gone I realised that if I gave it a severe prune then it would probably be ok to stay where it was.

So that’s what I did, and it seems to have gone OK. Which is good news as the amount of bees and butterflies that visited were definitely worth keeping it for. I also know that it aims to self-seed as much as it can, so next year I’ll be ready to pot on some of those seedlings, which were starting to make themselves at home throughout the gravel, along with the weeds!

I’ve a feeling that weeding that gravel will become one of our biggest jobs in the garden, the one that’s never ending but also quite satisfying. You know the sort!

Welcome to Bosworth Life

Well hello there.

If you’re reading this then it’s all gone to plan (or as to plan as it could have gone) and I’ve refreshed my blog to reflect our recent house move.

I’d been Life at 139a for ten years, which is a long time and although I’d never felt the need to change before now, now feels right.

When we first started to look to move house people were quick to ask if I’d change my blog name - back then I was ‘no, why would I, 139a can be a virtual space for wherever we go’. And in some ways that’s true, it has been a big part of our life for the twenty one years we lived there, but we were also so, so ready to move. It wasn’t until we got to Nottinghamshire, that I realised I was also ready to move my blog on too.

So why Bosworth Life?

I was always going to keep the life element of my blog name, as the things I cover are more wide reaching than just house and garden, and I didn’t want to feel constrained by a name. Bosworth is part of our address here, and so it was a fairly obvious choice.

Our new house is a new build barn, which is quite an unusual concept, and I toyed with variations about life at the barn, life at the new build barn and many more. But none felt right, and some felt quite similar to names that were already in use. That was a disappointing find, as when I wrote the post sharing that I was mulling over a blog name change, that was where I thought I’d go.

But it didn’t turn out that way.

I checked various names with Bosworth, and I was sold when I realised the .life suffix worked with it. It may not be as normal as a .co.uk or a .com suffix, but it is a lot cleaner and it makes me smile.

A cleaner look and feel

Now I like stuff, and I like my stuff - but something strange has happened as part of our house move. Like many people moving we’ve gone through years and years of ‘essential’ items pruning as we go, recalling memories and finding plenty of things we’d long forgotten about.

I thought we’d been pretty ruthless, but as we unpacked in our new house with its bright, white spaces we had a rethink, and have got rid of a load more stuff. We’ve been here two months and are only just getting some pictures on the walls. And we know that all we had before won’t all make it onto the walls here, which is another surprise to us both.

And so it makes sense for me to refresh the look and feel here too. The old logo was pretty minimalist, but this one feels cleaner and brighter - though I realise some may say dull (and that’s ok just please keep it to yourself!).

So what’s next?

Now I’ve got this new space set up I’ll also be changing my social channels (wish me luck!), but I’m also hoping that the refresh will inspire me to share more about our move, and our new house. For some reason I’ve held back as it didn’t feel a good fit under the Life at 139a banner, which given what I said before about it being a virtual 139a is odd, and that cemented the idea of a new blog name.

We’ve also got a whole new area to explore, so that’s exciting too. The countryside is right on our doorstep, as is the local history - the last battle of the War of the Roses, the Battle of Stoke Field took place close by in 1487. Newark is less than four miles away, Nottingham about seventeen miles - and there’s plenty more to explore in between and beyond.

I’ve also - finally - got a dedicated craft room here, so no more having craft supplies scattered between rooms, and it seems I’ve been collecting a fair amount of stuff, so I’ll be aiming to use some of that too as well as finish the projects I have on the go, and start some of those that I’ve planned. Though be warned, that list has grown!

So exciting times, and I can’t wait to get started - thanks for being here to see how it goes!

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and me - a post-op update

Back in April I shared how Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) was affecting me, and how through an NHS referral I was offered an operation - a cancellation - on 10 June.

It’s now just over a month since my operation, and so I thought I’d share an update (spoiler: it’s all going well).

Ahead of my op

One of my biggest concerns ahead of the op was actually getting to the hospital for 7am, but it wasn’t anywhere near as problematic as I thought it would be. In fact we were the first people to arrive, and I soon learnt that my op was the first one of the day too, which was good news - much less time to worry, or even look worried.

I met my surgeon he confirmed my details, including which hand was to be operated on and then marked the area. I asked how long the operation would take, and was relieved to find that it would only take 5, maybe 6 minutes. We were led to the day room and looked after by the nurses doing the pre-op checks, none were that surprised that my blood pressure was a little higher than normal.

Now wearing my hospital gown I was off to theatre, that’s when it started to get real. Once there I had to hop up onto a trolley and ‘make myself comfortable’ - well, as much as you can. Whilst in the theatre area I wasn’t left on my own at all, even if the nurse who accompanied me was called elsewhere, another was called to replace her. This was both reassuring and slightly disconcerting, the latter because having got this far, I had no plans to escape or even to fall off the trolley.

During the operation

Once the local anaesthetic was doing its thing, and it was checked that it really was working, we were off. I felt nothing except for a slight twang at one point, not a painful twang at all, but similar to an elastic band pinging.

What struck me though was how the team in theatre worked like a well oiled machine, like a well practised dance with each playing their part. I couldn’t see what they were doing as the protective sheet I’d put my arm through was stiff enough to be arranged so that I couldn’t, and while I was curious, I was also grateful.

The bandage was on and I was in the recovery room, and once it had been established I was ok, quite soon back in my day room, where MOH had been very well looked after by the ward staff. He said he was just about to set off in search of coffee, when a head popped round the door and offered him a coffee. When I got back tea and biscuits arrived for me, and another coffee for him.

I wasn’t expecting the bandage to be quite so huge. In the pre-op phone call I’d been advised not to wear anything too tight fitting, but nothing more. It was like a comedy bandage, the sort you see in cartoons.

Nor was I expecting my hand to resemble an Oompah Loompah!

That was the iodine of course, which had been liberally applied in theatre. It comes off relatively easily with wet wipes, which was a blessing as I’d been instructed not to get this wet for two weeks.

Before I could leave I needed to see the physio who advised on some simple exercises to do every hour. So simple that I wouldn’t have usually classed them as exercises, but as the fortnight went on I realised these were showing quite clearly the movement and dexterity were returning, despite the huge comedy bandage.

Two weeks post-op

After two weeks I was back at the hospital to have my stitches out. The white bandage I’d left with was distinctly not so white when I returned. I’d not had stitches before, so I’d not had them out either. That was a whole new experience, and thankfully one that wasn’t painful either.

The nurse was very excited to see how well my wound was healing - she told me it was a nurse thing! There was some ‘canoeing’ but not much - this is, I think, when the wound is more open than is ideal, but it’s not a bad thing as such.

I left with steri strips on the wound, a dressing and wearing a tubigrip and with another for good measure. Which was just as well, as these were even harder to keep clean - especially as using my hand became so much easier (and because by this stage we knew our house move would likely take place quite soon).

Next I saw the consultant who was also pleased with my progress, and who wanted to talk about scheduling in some time for the operation for my left hand. Though after some discussion about the reduction of symptoms I’d had in my other hand since the operation, this was put on hold. While an operation may be needed at some point, I’m very much of the opinion that it should only happen then, and not just because it can. Thankfully my surgeon also agreed.

I’d been surprised that I’d experienced far fewer symptoms in my left hand since the operation. Whether that’s because it was being used more (I’m very right-handed) and so was getting stretched and more active naturally, or if because deep down it saw what happened and decided to behave. Who knows?!

Four weeks post-op

After another couple of weeks I was able to remove the steri strips. The nurses had told me how - get them wet in the shower, and gently rub them off - and what to expect. After being covered for a month my hand was dry, as was only to be expected. The nurses advised using vaseline or a plain hand cream to nourish it - and vaseline has been my choice, it works really well on rehydrating my hand.

I hadn’t realised that the skin on your hand is dead skin, and the top layers won’t heal as a cut on your arm would. It heals from the inside when the newer dead skin is at the surface, the things you learn.

On being out of action for two weeks

With the large comedy bandage driving wasn’t allowed, and in fact in the UK is illegal. Not that I wanted to drive, but not driving meant planning ahead, but it wasn’t impossible. The exercises to tap each fingertip to my thumb provided an immediate progress report, and by the end of the first week I was able to tap even my little finger to my thumb.

While the bandage did make normal, every day things tricky most of these were surmountable.

• Washing my hair was impossible to start with, so a trip to the hairdressers for a wash and blow dry was just the job.

• Eating was harder than I expected, and MOH needed to cut food up for me at times - though he cut things into pieces larger than I’d like. Food that was easiest to eat was anything I could pick up with my left hand, or stab with a fork. Fine dining it wasn’t, but nor was I hungry.

• Dressing was ok, well everything except my bra. For the first week MOH was called on to help me dress, but gradually I was able to do this myself. One morning he went out for a cycle returning amazed to find me still not dressed, until I pointed the obvious out.

• A sling helped with going out and about - not only acting as a visual clue for people to give me a wider berth than normal, but also because holding your hand above your heart while moving about, for an extended period is harder than you think. Really, it is.

• Juggling everything one-handed - I use a cross body bag in any case, and this was helpful as it kept my hands free. As we were off to Gardeners’ World Live where I knew I’d be taking pictures, I also bought myself a cross-body phone holder - this was unbelievably brilliant, and I’m still using it now. In fact I’m tempted to get another one so that I can coordinate it with outfits, and my mum has also admired it. A simple thing, that I wasn’t sure would work, but it really did.

The surgeon advised that as my hand was healing I would naturally use it more. He was right, but I’m not sure he knew that our house move was so imminent, and to be fair when I had the op on 10 June, nor did we! I have gradually used my hand more, but packing our house in a short time span was a no from me, and a no you’re not doing that from MOH - which was totally the right decision.

As for typing, up until now I’ve kept my posts here short or posted those which I’d prepared in advance, but now that the bandages and steri strips are off, I’m much more comfortable and confident to use my hand pretty much as I did before the operation. What with this and our house move though, there hasn’t been much room for typing though now I’m both are getting more settled I’m hoping to work out a new blogging routine and show you more of our house and the area we’ve moved to!

There’s a couple of things which remain challenging, like putting my hands at right angles to my wrists as in a press-up position, but that’s something to work on. Lifting - or rather shifting - heavy boxes still requires MOH’s help, and not just because they are heavy, but because you move your hand naturally to adjust to picking a box up and down again and that dexterity isn’t there just yet. The other thing that’s challenging is the locks on our new house - they’re new to me and generally just new, so are a bit stiffer than in our previous house, but really that’s not so much of an issue.

What’s next

I’m moisturising the wound with vaseline regularly, at least a couple of times a day, and have started massaging Bio Oil into the scar to help reduce that. Though it really is quite small, the whole incision area is about 2.5cm and about 1.5cm of that is more pronounced, though I expect once it’s healed it could easily pass for one of the lines on my hand.

I’m really pleased with how everything has gone so far, but I do want to check out some videos for exercises and massage tips to further speed up my healing. I also pleased that my left hand is continuing to behave, and even more so that I haven’t worn the splints since my operation.

The operation is more common than I knew, since I’ve had mine I’ve become more aware of other people who’ve gone through the same.

And really, my surgeon was right, it’s nothing to worry about at all. Phew.