Blood test results …

Bugger!

Blood test results are back. My blood sugar (HbA1c) is 41, back to where it was 9 years ago. I’ve made significant lifestyle changes since then – sugar consumption massively reduced, potatoes and rice almost absent from my diet, cakes and biscuits (except oatcakes) on special occasions only, and so on. Fruit and veg consumption up (average so far this year is 6.2 a day). 2 “veggie” and one “fish” days a week, bread usually homebaked (45% white, 45% wholemeal, 10% oatmeal). Gentle exercise continues to increase … just over 5,600 steps average in the Light months (ie British Summer Time) so far this year.

Being realistic, I don’t see what further changes I can make that will be sustainable. As I wrote nine years ago I’m in the condition of “normal, if only marginally so” which has been so common in all aspects of my life!

Also in the condition of “normal, if only marginally so” is total cholesterol and cholesterol ratio. The GP’s pharmacist has arranged to ring me next week, which I suspect is to discuss this. They increased my daily simvastatin from 10mg to 20mg last year (40mg is the usual maximum). As above, my diet is pretty healthy (I cook with rapeseed or olive oil, and so on), but I do normally have full-fat soft cheese at lunchtime. As an experiment, I’ve ordered ricotta, soft goat cheese, and low-fat Leerdammer for tomorrow’s Waitrose delivery – all of these are (per serving) about half the fat of the cheeses I’ve been having. Also on the order is Benecol blueberry drink with plant stannols (cholesterol-lowering), instead of the Actimel pro-biotic drink I’ve been having. Bacon or sausages once a week may have to be moved to once a fortnight … but otherwise, I think there are few changes possible. Perhaps a bit more chicken and less pork, though I do choose lean cuts most of the time. Sadly, organic chicken is fiendishly expensive, and there’s something in non-organic supermarket chicken that makes me ill (I suspect residual traces of antibiotics).

Meanwhile, I may have to say goodbye to these:

spicy

The first flower opened on the nasturtiums this morning, though for several days I’ve been picking odd leaves to add a bit of spice to salads. A heritage variety, of course, dating from 1884, it carries the slightly unfortunate High Victorian name of “Empress of India”. Despite that, in my opinion it’s incomparably the best, outperforming fancier modern varieties for display and for taste.

late arrival of help …

Better late than never!

I’ve been squashing greenfly by hand on the back rose every morning for the past fortnight … hopefully, this little creature is only the first of many to produce larvae that will keep the pests under control.

And, somewhat later, a pond pic. The white iris has opened, and there are waterliles, bulrushes, and monkeyflower (formerly Mimulus, now re-branded as Erythranthe). Damselflies are flitting about, and the water from the pump is making pleasant plashing sounds.


geranium day

Geranium (no, not pelargonium) day today.The darker one is the bloody cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum) which is so called because the leaves turn a deep red in autumn. The lighter one is self-sown, probably from my original pencilled cranesbill (Geranium versicolor), possibly hybridised with something else, perhaps a local wild cranesbill. It’s so called because the markings allegedly look like pencil lines.


smelly things

Opening the bedroom door at the top of the stairs this morning, I was met by the glorious scent of sweet peas, from the bunch on the coffee table downstairs. It always amazes me just how far the scent of some flowers can reach! My back rose, “Etoile d’Hollande” does llkewise, and the first flower on that opened this morning.

btw, photo taken with flash – sunlight doesn’t reach there until early afternoon.

roses, etc

A rather soggy hirple up to the GP surgery this morning for my annual “MoT”, blood tests and so on. I also booked a shingles vaccine – my father’s mother had a really nasty attack of it when I was about ten, and I vividly remember her being in considerable distress because of it.
Coming back, the first two roses have opened on ‘Madame A. Meilland’, also known as “Peace”. Phone photo only, as I wasn’t going to hang about in the ongoing drizzle! The back rose, “Etoile d’Hollande” is a couple of days short of opening the first buds. It’s done very well, now up the support and along, for a total growth so fat this year of about 3 metres (in a season, 5 is not uncommon). Not bad considering that it was completely cut down to about 30cm when I started re-doing this bit of garden at the start of the year, after the previous rose arch had succumbed to gales.

finally completed!

The old “little shed” had done sterling service for the last decade in supporting the change of levels up to the patio, and housing an increasing accumulation of junk, but had clearly reached end-of-life. The soil under the edge of patio had started to slip downwards, and the whole area was due for an overhaul. The waste person collected shed and most of contents on May 2nd. It’s been a very slow process reorganising the area – my back limits me to about 45-60 minutes a day of heavy work (digging, moving soil and clay, relaying the paving …) even with back brace and moving smallest possible quantities at a time. But, six weeks later, the final trowel-full of soil went in, and a clematis tangutica has been ordered, to be planted up to grow over the new shed.


courgette

In a period of light drizzle between heavy showers, I did the daily “veg peelings to the compost bin” trip. Both courgette plants have decided to open flowers – two on one plant and one on another. It’s looking good, despite the patches of mildew that have started to appear on the leaves of the plants.

ugh!

Vile weather this morning! As always, it’s triggered massive back problems. One of the minor but unexpectedly useful features of my new recliner chair is a built-in USB supply next to the controls. I’m using it (for the first time) this morning to power my heated back-brace, while waiting for the painkillers to kick in.

runners

The first flower on the runner beans. They’re the heritage variety “Painted Lady” … having tried assorted modern / F1 varieties, I always come back to this classic Victorian favourite. It does have the additional merit of being supposed to be good in hot weather.