2 years ago
Wednesday, December 23
Monday, December 21
Back to the plot
After several weeks absence we managed a visit to the plot on Sunday with a certain amount of trepidation. Would the gales have swept the greenhouse and shed away? We were fairly confident that we wouldn't have any serious damage as a plot neighbour, concerned over our absence, rang us after the worst of the winds and he would have certainly let us know of any real problem.
Less certain was whether we would have anything left to harvest. Unfortunately we had missed our cauliflowers and the chrysanthemums had just about finished flowering but we did come away with some goodies.
The harvest collection isn't as photogenic as usual as we decided to take most of the vegetables home almost as they came out of the ground. We have found that root vegetables seem to keep for longer this way.
One disadvantage is that the condition of the roots isn't as obvious and so we harvested a bucketful of carrots. We have more carrots left in the ground but thanks to slugs nothing like as many as usual. You may remember that our first two sowings were munched into oblivion and the third sowing was relatively late.
The parsnips growing alongside the disappearing carrots fared better - slugs obviously don't like them as much. We still have quite a few in the ground but you can't count your parsnips until they are out of the ground can you?
It was very dry when the leeks should have been planted out and so they went into the ground late and are much smaller than usual. I don't expect that they will grow any more now so we will just have to use more at each serving.
Did you spot the cabbage in the harvest group photo? It's just peeping out from under carrot foliage and chrysanthemums - an oversight of whoever arranged them but I do have an excuse at the moment being visually challenged. I'm using the same excuse for the photo below. The cabbage has ended up looking like a vase here.
Disappointingly our red cabbages didn't fare well. They also were late being planted and consequently the plants became leggy and struggled once in the ground. I am hoping that we have some of last year's braised red cabbage left in the freezer.
We do have sprouts that fortunately hadn't blown. They may look a little ragged but then again our homegrown ones always do and will be fine once the outer leaves have been removed.
Finally although the yellow and the pale pink chrysanthemums were over, I managed to pick some red and dark pink flowers. I've cut back the other two plants in the overly optimist hope that they may produce more flowers but don't realistically think this will happen.
Saturday, December 19
Breaking the chain
Having decided that the eye surgery was too risky, I forfeited my, not inconsiderable, deposit and withdrew. My aim now is to try and source some contact lenses that I can wear comfortably and glasses that don't require scaffolding to wear without nose fatigue but don't make me look too scary. I'm also looking for advice on managing my dry eyes.
This left me searching the Internet for someone who may be able to help with my eyesight issues. I came across an independent optician that seemed as though they may just be able to help.
I was surprised to find that the optician was actually only a few minutes drive away in Ossett town centre. It was down a street we rarely walk down and maybe even if we had it wouldn't have warranted a second glance.
As a first step I emailed explaining my problems and quickly had a reply saying that they could supply me with thinner lenses for my glasses prescription - something that I was told was technically impossible by several large lens manufacturers - so I made an appointment.
I was told to take along everything I had relating to my eyes so, Martin, the owner/optometrist could get an idea of the present position.
After a long conversation and telephone calls to my previous optician (belonging to a large chain) with requests for information to be faxed across, my prescription was reassessed and found to have changed very little despite being eight weeks without contact lenses. It was decided that this appointment would focus (no pun intended) on sorting out some better glasses and that a second appointment would work on my dry eye problem and contact lenses.
I was then passed to Rachel, the dispensing optician who had already been researching lens options for me. She explained that she could source thinner glass lenses but that ironically because the glass was denser they would be heavier. Another option was blended lenticular lenses in plastic which would be lighter although could look a little strange from certain angles. I decided to give these a try. Rachel rang the manufacturer for advice on the type of frame that would be best and then we chose a frame ( I actually got to choose a frame rather having the choice of two at my previous opticians when my first selection was rejected as unsuitable after being sent to the lens supplier and returned by them).
My new glasses should arrive after Christmas and I have also booked my contact lens/dry eye appointment. Apparently there are lots of different types and materials of lenses so Martin is hoping to find one that suits me and he also specialises in managing dry eyes.
So fingers crossed again - at least this time I was treated like a person rather than the owner of a pair of problem eyes. My appointment actually lasted over two hours.
It will be a while before I find out whether this time things will work out but I think I have found someone who will try the best that they can for me and I can't really ask for more can I?
Hoping to manage a plot visit tomorrow for a much needed harvest. With a bit of luck I can get back to garden blogging before more followers pull the plug on me.
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