My garden in September

I mentioned the tiny olives on the new olive tree last month, and this month they’ve grown to actual olive size, though I’m sure there’s not enough to do anything useful with so MOH’s hopes of olive oil production are entirely non-starters, even if he pools resources and crops with everyone else in the village!

But the new olive tree has shot up - and out - in the warmer months, and while it could do with a haircut and reshape, I know I need to leave it over the winter now. It’s really established itself on the corner of our patio and has been a good addition.

Our crab apple tree has a lot of leaves but fewer apples this year, which I’m sure is good for the tree. Every now and then I stick my head into the tree to see how they’re doing, and this was them with the sunlight streaming through early in the month. There’s a few more on the ground beneath the tree now, and I’m sure the squirrel which has just started to visit our garden isn’t helping that. I’m doing my best to scare the squirrel off as I’m really not keen on encouraging them - I can’t believe we haven’t seen a squirrel for three years though, but it was good while it lasted.

The cosmos continue to do well and are in various stages of flowering still, even at the end of the month. I still need to capture some seed so that I can grow them where I’d like, but I suspect that this area where the two pots have been will always be a cosmos hotspot.

It’s good to see the garden a bit healthier this month following a good four inches of rain. But it’s amazing to see how plants react differently; earlier in the summer I planted out two halves of a geranium, one has adapted and enjoyed its spot at least twice as much as the other. Both are in similar spots in the border, but the one below has over doubled in size - I’m thinking that the other may need a bit of help, or maybe a new spot but for the time being I’m leaving it where it is.

The Rowan tree brings some autumnal colour to the garden, and I’ve given the pyracantha in the outer border a seriously good trim, but even so that’s still laden with berries. The hebe that had issues earlier in the year continues to have issues and I’ve needed to cut some more dead branches from it. In London earlier this week I walked past some equally and probably more dead hebes near Marble Arch so I guess they’re really not fans of the weather we’ve had.

But in better news the struggling alstroemeria has perked up enough to provide more flowers, which I’m very grateful for. And the daisies which looked done in last month are now also green again - they’d still benefit from being out of the pot, but hopefully that may happen soon(ish). Later in October I’ve invited a garden designer over to see if my ideas for my garden are do-able, and to see if she can help with my problem areas, or rather the things I want in my garden but am struggling to make work - more on this at a later date, hopefully.

The fuchsias are continuing to dance into autumn, and they bring me much joy - even the one that makes my car beep as I reverse out, it needs a trim to get it away from the car’s sensors, but not when they’re as pretty as this. Or not just yet anyway.

Unsurprisingly the succulents have done well this summer, even though I lost the partner to the ever expanding one below over winter. It’s now bigger than the two of them were put together, and the usurpers I’ve added into the top half of the pot have also taken.

I’m especially pleased that the succulent rehoming I did when I faced my usual lack of pots crisis has also been successful - and I’m a big fan of the several varieties mixed together so I may even do this purposefully in future.

Last month I thought I’d picked the last of my red tomatoes, but I was wrong. And when I picked these I thought they’d be the last, but there are still a few stragglers on my plants and with the sunny end to the month I’m hopeful that they too will ripen a little more.

I think that if there’s one plant - other than our grass which has bounced back to greenness when all looked lost - that sums up the summer, then it’s the acer by the back door. As the heatwaves continued to come it too was struggling and the crispy leaves are testament to that, but as the weather cooled and the rain came the newer leaves were back to their resplendent red.

I’m in two minds as to whether or not to remove the crispy leaves or not, but as this plant usually drops it’s leaves over winter I’m waiting to see how it fares naturally. Fingers crossed - though I know there is new growth, so that is very good news.

And those olives that we started with at the top of this post, well they’re ripening and turning black, and continuing to look like olives - we’re still not in harvesting territory though!

Before I end isn’t grass amazing, the photo above is after some of the rain had come and as you can see it’s already turning back to being more green than it had for most of the summer. But what’s also interesting is that I also noticed that our grass was having its own ‘historic house reveal moment’ - and while it hasn’t revealed a grand parterre or anything too fancy, it’s clear that it is showing a former building - with the lighter ‘lines’ coming out from where the brick wall has been changed. We think this was probably one of the farm sheds, or outbuildings - but isn’t it fascinating what nature exposes in droughts?

This September...

September once again brought some surprises, and some answers for me too. While I’ve had my hearing aids since much earlier in the year it was good to close out the referral and discover why my hearing loss was lopsided. Thankfully it’s nothing major and I can relax again on that front.

Unrelated to that, but equally pleasing is some planned and worked hard for weight loss, dropping five kilograms since the middle of June, with a more concerted effort over the past month or so has been good. The downside though is the dress I made in August now fits me less well and I need to make some tweaks to it! But I can live with that.

As usual we’ve been out and about taking the bus to West Bridgford for brunch, this time amazingly I didn’t purchase anything at the nearby Gardener’s Market though I did fall in love with these. I feel there could be a purchase in the future, once I’ve worked out where it would best fit, and what size.

PLANTERS BY BOTANICAL INTERIOR DESIGN

There’s been clothes shopping, planned for MOH and an unintended consequence for me - ah well, never mind, though we managed to tie that up with a visit to one of our favourite and newly reopened pubs in Newark and discovered their quirky outside space, and then went for a Thai meal too - a perfect night out!

Our outside patio lights and garage lights have been replaced, and while that’s not great for summer evenings in the gardens it is much better for illuminating our way to the door. They’d all become temperamental, or had stopped working so it’s good to get these sorted. While we were at the house improvements we had a towel rail fitted in the downstairs loo, as when it’s really cold that’s our coldest room, which believe me is far from ideal.

We’ve been to London for a friend’s retirement do, eating in the fabulous Ivy Asia at St Paul’s - and boy what a view, plus the loos were pretty fancy too!

OUR VIEW AT IVY ASIA ST PAUL’S

We stayed overnight in a Travelodge I’ve got my eye on for a trip to the Barbican in November (it passed - I’ll book it again!) and so made the most of our trip to the big smoke. We dropped in unannounced to one of MOH’s darts team’s games, and it was nice to see some more old faces. Then the following morning we headed over to Marble Arch to the Moco Museum for a spot of modern art - it’s fab, a little pricey for entry, but we loved it. We finished our trip with an unexpectedly sunny lunch at Harry’s close to Kings Cross and arrived home much tired-er (and fuller) than when we’d left!

EXPERIENCING THE MOCO MUSUEM AT MARBLE ARCH

There’s also been plenty of making this month, and as I wished for last month I have spent more time at my sewing machine - as I once again fairly last minute decided to make myself something to wear for our trip. I finished my Moth Flint cropped trousers the night before we left, and I’m feeling fairly pleased with myself as I needed to tackle some buttonholes to finish them.

MY TWO TEST BUTTONHOLES

But that’s not all, I finished my charity quilts villages 2 & 3 and have completed the top for my next one - a pink village for number 4 - and if you missed it I posted another quilty update. I’ve also picked up another quilt project - oops! - but it is a beauty…

I went to a workshop and made some wire flowers, but I’ve yet to post more than a picture of those which I’m repeating here. And I went along to the first - and really rather good - Newark Wool Show, of course there were purchases, so look out for those, and details of my new quilt project next week.

This month seems to have finished almost as soon as it had started, and with October just around the corner I’ll have to start to think about packing up the garden for winter - though we have done some prep work for that in the garage, by making a bit more space and sealing the floor. Making the space involved moving our old, large and heavy, but sadly broken, pizza oven out of the garage but not without it giving me hopefully the last bruise it can. It was just a scrape, but one that’s turned my knee many shades of black and blue - and it surely must heal soon! Surely…

Hearing loss and me

This isn’t something I expected to write about, or perhaps not in my fifties anyway, but earlier this year I took myself off for a hearing test and came out with a recommendation for hearing aids. It wasn’t a complete shock to me as I’d taken an online test before booking the appointment, and quite honestly I’d known that I was struggling to hear for a while, as I’d regularly ask MOH to repeat what he’d said, and even then I wasn’t sure all of the time.

The catalyst (pun not intended) was at a sewing group meeting when someone shared her sad cat news, and I knew it took that second too long for the news to register and for my face and speech to react. Exactly.

I was about to discover that there’s a whole host of different types of hearing aids. The type recommended for my hearing loss was RIC, or Receiver-in-Canal which has a microphone behind the ear and delivers sound close to the ear drum. Unfortunately my local NHS trust doesn’t offer their services through independent suppliers, so my options were to proceed independently or to seek a GP referral for the NHS route. I chose to proceed independently as once the problem, or my hearing loss had been confirmed I was keen to get a speedy resolution.

Though this meant choosing a colour for my hearing aids, which wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

The samples above were the choices available, and quite quickly both black options and the dark matte grey were ruled out. This left the most commonly ordered metallic grey, and the metallic bronze. After much umming and aching, and a second visit to the shop to make sure, I opted for the bronze which the audiologist wasn’t convinced by, but as I was the one who’d be wearing them I was happy with my choice - and still am.

Though I did end up getting a referral in the end as my hearing loss was asymmetrical but more on that in a moment.

Getting used to wearing my hearing aids

A few days later I was back to collect my hearing aids, have them adjusted for me and to have my first lesson on how to put them in, take them out and to care for them. It was a lot of information, but nothing too tricky. We were off to a concert in Nottingham that evening and the audiologist recommended not wearing them for the first time there, as the whole experience might be overwhelming! I took the advice, but realised it might be the last time I’d ask MOH “what did they say” in the speaking parts - I’m sure he’s not missing that at all!

I’ve been lucky in that I haven’t found wearing them uncomfortable at all, though I did need to check how far into my ear they should go - the advice was, so that the connecting wire isn’t loose, but it’s all been good. Initially my voice felt echo-y when I spoke, but that was explained as me learning what my voice sounded like again, and the echo-yness didn’t last. I’ve got the rechargeable sort so every evening as I take them off they go straight onto the charger ready to use the following day.

I have them paired to my phone, and now I no longer miss a phone call because I don’t hear it. The times I do miss a call is when I don’t have my hearing aids in, and of course those ever increasing spam calls which I purposely miss. I can even answer my phone by tapping my ears, well the hearing aids - who knew?!

There’s other apps that connect directly to them which are also beneficial, though there was a leaning curve and many times I asked MOH “can you hear this” during that period. But hearing the doorbell is great, being able to listen to a podcast surreptitiously - and especially while gardening is also a plus. I’m less keen on Facebook and Instagram blaring reels and stories at me full blast, but I’m using other ways to mute the sounds I don’t want.

The other thing I found useful was asking my opticians to slightly change the fitting of my prescription glasses so that they are more comfortable to wear and don’t hinder my hearing, which they did at my annual check up, but I’m sure would have done on an adhoc basis if I’d thought to have asked them.

I’m still working out the best setting for ‘hearing in noise’ and if it’s best to opt for the noise filter or speech clarity, but that may take a while to get a definitive answer for me as every situation seems different, which makes sense really. We’ve been in restaurants that have been overwhelming by the commotion so the noise filter option works as well as the speech clarity, but we’ve also been in restaurants where the table next to us has been a bit loud and so the speech clarity isn’t ideal - unless of course I’m relaying the conversation to MOH!

There’s much more functionality to them that I haven’t even broached yet, but I recently learnt there’s an airplane setting so I guess I should work out what that does and how to use it soon - and if I can’t I know I can book a follow-up appointment so the audiology team can help me!

The NHS referral

Remember I said that my hearing loss was asymmetrical, well that meant that the audiologist needed to inform my GP. A follow up call was arranged where my GP tried to ascertain if there was an obvious cause for this - could it have been down to my job, unlikely as I worked in an office, could it be excessive headphone use - also unlikely as I rarely wear headphones and then the most “country” question I’ve ever been asked, and which in London could likely have an entirely different meaning - did I shoot for a hobby?! I don’t, but I can see why it was asked where I live now and how it would be unlikely to be asked had I still been living in London!

But anyway, as there was no obvious explanation as to why my hearing loss was greater in my right ear, a referral was made. Recently I’ve had the outcome of that, following an NHS hearing test. But as ever life threw a complication in its path. I was once again at a sewing group and found myself unable to hear the group chat as we sat there hand sewing, so much so that I warned the group to nudge me if I didn’t respond.

It hadn’t improved after a few days, and after changing the filters so I went back to see the audiologist. They took a look at my good ear, and then at my troublesome one which again was the right ear and told me I’d now got fluid in the ear, which is relatively common and home remedies such as swallowing as you do when your ears pop on a plane usually helps. They confirmed it also wasn’t there a few months before which was good to know as my consultant appointment was fast approaching. Thankfully after another week or so that eased and my hearing improved, and I was less likely to be seen holding my nose and blowing to clear my ears. This was great news as after regaining my hearing, and realising what I was missing I wasn’t about to let it go again.

At the NHS hearing test they told me I had a retracted eardrum, and the consultant would explain fully at my next appointment a few days later, googling that left me none the wiser so I waited as patiently as I could for the next appointment. That’s where I learnt I have a “text book” case of Otosclerosis, which is basically where the “stirrup” bone in my ear has fused so it no longer moves, or amplifies sound vibrations. My consultant doesn’t recommend surgery, and agreed that hearing aids are the way to proceed - she also told me to consider the NHS route when I need to update my hearing aids, as the GP will be able to do a referral especially with this diagnosis. We’ll see when I get to that point, but it’s reassuring to know it’s an option.

And remember this pouch?

Well, it was made with my hearing aids in mind and that’s why I was so keen to finish it before our holiday back in May. It’s worked out perfectly for what I wanted, and there’s even space for my glasses too which means keeping everything handily together.

Reclaiming my hearing through wearing hearing aids has meant more than I ever realised, I’m not sure I knew before just how much I was missing - and I guess the best bit is that if there’s stuff I actually want to miss, then it’s easy to just switch off, or take them out!

In fact many people don’t even realise I’m wearing hearing aids, they’re that discreet - though since I’ve been wearing mine I’ve noticed many more people, of all ages, also wearing hearing aids which given that almost six out of ten people in the UK live with hearing loss isn’t surprising. It’s also one of those health things that people are more likely to ignore - often leaving it between seven and ten years before seeking help, which is crazy when you think of it as none of us would leave it that long before getting say an eye test. There’s research too that hearing loss impacts our lives more than we think, and the longer it’s left then clearly that impact is greater, which isn’t great for anyone.

Given my experience, which has been wholly positive, if you’re concerned about your hearing then I’d recommend getting it checked out - there’s discreet ways of doing this, with many independent providers offering online tests and free no-commitment appointments, I mean what have you got to lose?