General Chat

WE don't change our duvet it stay the same all year round but I add a top coat. It does feel a bit autumnial though.

Its a shame the year has to come to an end and it seems to have passed very quickly this year. Soon be Christmas and I have been looking for things for oh but not with much ,uck. He seems to have everything he needs.

I am watching Leonardo De Vinchi on Prime and its quite interesting. The music is like Poldark and its Aiden Turner playing Leonardo. Coincisence or what?? I don't think so.

It feels like autumn :-0 :-| We'll soon be closing the warm air escape aka the loft hatch - it was a good wheeze, don't know why we didn't think of it sooner - and it won't be long before the thicker duvet comes out.

I certainly admire those faces Island. They are so full of expression and everyone so different but I have to admit that they are not really my thing. Even so, I think it is a very clever idea. Ribs are horrid places to have pain as you can't really not use them. I hope they feel easier soon.

You had a bad night then Ann. I'm not surprised you forgot it's a bank holiday today; one day is much like another at the moment and we all get a bit brain fogged when we are tired.

Yes, the floor did get steam cleaned but not by me. OH said he would do it. The cleaner is very light to handle and it didn't seem to hurt his arms and shoulders, which he says are quite a bit better now. He says he will ring the surgery tomorrow to see if they have got the results of his blood tests yet. At least our health centre still had the bottles so he did get the tests.

While OH was doing the floor I spent an hour in the garden. Like AnnG I cut all the flower spikes off some lavender plants, deadheaded all round and pulled up some annuals that seemed to have come to the end of their life. It wasn't very warm out there and I had to put on an old anorak that I use for outside jobs.

My neighbour went away this morning for a few days and I felt obliged to offer to water her pots for her. She has loads and tells me that she now has a lot more down one side of her house. She also kindly told me that I could get the hose out if I felt like it. No way! The borders and beds will have to survive without my help. Otoh if the weather stays like this with no sun I might not even have to do the pots.

Going to ring my daughter now and by the time we have finished chatting it'll be time to get dinner ready. Easy meal tonight, ham from yesterday's gammon joint with salad and possibly a few little potatoes.

There's some very clever people about is'nt there? Those faces are just lovely and so colourful. Its always surprising what people come up with.

Glad you found out what your little bird was Ann. Now you can make its head darker and it will be just right.

Done one wash our clothes from yesterday then I watered some of the plants on the rockery bit that are in pots as they were extremly dry and oh brought the big trailer round and picked up what I had cut off the rose on the box hedge days ago and then I swept that area up under the bird feeder and swept off the strimmings on the corner of the lawn he had cut down. He has the old mower going but its still not right really but its pulling the trailer sothats good.

Had lunch and a rest so now I am off up the border again.

Afternoon All,

Still awake till 3.00am this morning so I don't feel frisky at all! I have done a wash, cleaned the inside of the study window, sucked up some Harvesters and cleaned a few marks off the study walls. Thankfully, as I don't feel like doing anything outside, the garden bin is already full to the brim, but will be emptied tomorrow. I'm losing the plot again as I told OH he would hear talking this morning when I rang the garage and hairdresser.........forgot it is a Bank Holiday!! :-D

That was a pricey meal for something not special Frank, but a lot of places hike prices up on a Sunday. Our £13.60 carveries are cheaper on weekdays. So you have a few more days to get into mischief before you go on your hols, so do be careful won't you. What are you/have you got Ros for her birthday this year? You have bought her some lovely jewellery in the past.

Ouch Island! I managed to tear the tiny muscles between my ribs a few years ago, just with twisting and turning and bending down in the garden. I could hardly breathe or turn over in bed and it doesn't help when you have an OH keep making you laugh!! The doc said it would take a long time to heal and she was right. I still get twinges start if I'm not careful so you have my sympathy. The Booby turned out to be a Dartford Warbler and I need to darken the head on my little painting. I love all those knitted faces. Very clever to get all the expressions!!

Mandy, we grow the toms in pots now and this year I just emptied out half the old compost that had a lot of root in it, topped up with Westland Multipurpose compost and added a handful of Growmore pellet fertilizer in the cardboard box to start them off. The toms were very slow growing at the start but have done well since. Your pasties and veg sound nice and those security cameras sound good. I expect they have to be wired in. Save me some coffee cake! lol.

Hope you got your steaming done Vera. I often think I will do just one floor and end up doing them all while the steamer is out, but we have a smaller area to do than you. I quite fancy getting one of those that hoovers and washes, two jobs at once and less backache!! :-)

AnnG you have been busy finishing getting your Lavender cut back and more weeding to tidy up. If you know the make of your security cameras you might find instructions on checking the footage online. It's something I think we should get.

Afternoon all. Ooh Island that must be so painful, hope it will ease up for you soon.
Really clever those knotted faces.

Mel you certainly got a lot done yesterday Maybe don't overdo it today.

Good to see you Frank, ah, you just said Sunday and Tuesday before, didn't give any dates so I assumed (wrongly) that it was this weekend So you still have it to look forward to. Yes that sounded a bit expensive for a 'not special occasion' meal.

Mandy Mmm coffee cake sounds 'moreish'.
I have security cameras here 4 of them, I can put them up on the computer but not sure how to do anything else like look back on them. T never actually told me what to do.

I finished cutting off all the lavender flowers this morning and weeded and cleared all round the bush so that is a bit more done out the front 2.5 hours yesterday and another hour today.

Afternoon all,

Really dull here today don't think we'll be seeing any sun .

OH Island pain in the ribs must be awful every movement even breathing as Mel said must hurt ,hope it soon eases off for you.
Love all the faces :-D people come up with some amazing things .

OH Frank I thought you were down in Devon, so it's not until next week that you travel .

Ann I meant to ask what compost you had for your toms they just look such healthy plants with all those toms on , made mine look really bad .

Bank Holiday weekends seem just like an ordinary weekend to us now we don't go out far, hard to believe that August has nearly gone and next Monday the children will be back at school ,well some of them I think its a staggered return again with some going Monday some Tuesday.

I've made a nice coffee sponge this morning put your orders in for a slice before it's all gone. :-D

We're having pasties for tonight with veg .

Son ordered another security camera for us yesterday it came this morning ,this one we will have out the front ,they have a lovely clear picture.

Lovely to see you Frank and I bet you're looking forward to next Sunday and the promiss of a different outlook and some lovely weather in Spain.

Poor Island when its the ribs you can't move anything without pain. It must hurt too even to breath as the chest expands with that. I hope you feel better soon. Did you look those hoks up I sent you? for your new shed?

Lamb leg steaks tonight so I think I will go down the shed and turf out another potato bag and see if there's anything worth eating in it.

Good morning all,

Nothing sort of day here, very overcast and I expect we could se some rain later. So much for a Bank Holiday Monday.

We went out for lunch yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary, apart from having a starter. Most surprised to see the the bill was over £55.00 so with the TIP £60.00.
Won't be doing that too often.

Sorry Girls, we don't go to Devon until next Sunday, and fly to Spain on the Tuesday, we will be back on the 18th, day before Ros's B'day. (21 again) lol lol

I thought we might go out for a ride round later. There isa place not too far from us called OLNEY. It's a village full of Antique shops. It will break the day up, proving the weather holds up.

The lady who runs the Choir, her husband died yesterday, so no Choir tonight for Ros..

Trust you are all well. Take care, see you later.

Morning all,
What a grey day! Did someone displease the weather gods?
Thank you all for good wishes yesterday. It's my ribs again :-|
RA can cause inflammation in the cartilage between ribs but in 20 years I have never had this so to get it twice in 2 months is a worry. I've never had pain for more than three days at a time before either.
I decided a week was enough so phoned the surgery - I didn't know they are a bank :-| :-|
I suppose the hospital is a bank too today so I wont bother phoning them re my blood test and phone call either :-| It's never just one thing is it!
Well that's my moan of the day, sorry :-( :-\

Oh dear Annx - is your little bird a booby? :-D

Anng I hope your ankle is feeling better.

Vera, put your feet up and have a coffee - the floor's not going anywhere :-D :-D

Morning girls and all,

Hope Frank had a good journey down here and is enjoiying his stay already.

We have blue sky and a huge bank of white cloud to the north and an easterly wind this morning and its quite chilly.

I had a lie in this morning as I was up the border yesterday and I got down a lot of the dead hydranga that been up the wall for years. One of the roses (Mascarade) had climbed right up there too and I had cut it off lower down but the dead bit was entangled in the hydranga. Still its off the wall now but still some to get down. deadhead too the mollis and the panstemon and pulled off the old leaves on the bearded iris and dug out a bit of twitch so all in all a good day up the border. I shall be up there again today if I can.

Good morning AnnG and all

I hope everyone with aches and pains is feeling better this morning.

It’s very overcast with little spells of light rain today. My weather app is telling me it’s 16 degrees but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

The 2nd load of washing is just finishing and I have one more lot to do on a quick wash then that job’s done for a few more days. I’m not sure what I’m going to do today. It’s not the weather for gardening. I might try and get the floors steam cleaned. I think I’ve said before that there is carpet in a bedroom and a wooden floor in the living room but everywhere else downstairs is tiled and it’s a big area to do. I have thought of doing just the kitchen area but it seems silly to get the cleaner out and not do it all.

Sitting here thinking about it won’t get it done but I might just go and make a coffee first ;-)

Good morning all. Grey/white sky and 11 degrees. same as yesterday. the sun did finally come out yesterday but was quite weak, still it was bright. Still having to water plants which is a nuisance but no doubt once the rain returns it won't know when to stop.

Annx the tomatoes still have quite a few green ones on them and now look very naked without a lot of their leaves. Hopefully if we get a couple of sunny days they will ripen.
Good that your lunch was a better size. No doubt that means some people will be complaining that theirs has shrunk.
Yes I got a lot done. My ankle was not like a sprain, the pain was round my foot where it bends for the ankle so I think I must have placed it awkwardly when moving the mower in or out of the shed. It is not over heavy but just a bit awkward. Seems Ok this morning so far.

Afternoon All,

Slept well and would have had a nice lie in, well would have done if there hadn't been loud voices and lots of car door banging at the new house at the bottom at 7.30am! Even OH said what happened to this being a quiet little close.

Lunch came on time and they seem to have got the hang of the portion sizes now and they are just right. :-) It is 6 years today since MIL passed away. We can't believe how fast the time passes. The food drop and wipe down were done in half an hour. Lots of things out of stock and still about 5 subs after me replacing the things out of stock. After you have ordered red onions why do they send more onions as subs for leeks? We'll be looking like onions a this rate. Still, at least they keep well. Not much wiping today, just the fridge stuff. I have started ordering things like chocolates and schloer for christmas so we'll at least have some treats at christmas if there are worse shortages by then.

I hope you are feeling a bit better now Island. RA is not nice and causes a lot of pain. Fancy them running out of such basic things as bottles! Glad you liked my little painting. I had a chuckle about it last night as I put it and the photo on FB and tagged the person who took it to ask the name of the bird. Well he said it was a lovely painting, but he had never seen one let alone got a photo of one!! lol. He said he'd love to see me to do one of his though! So that's me making a boob again! OH laughed his head off when I told him. :-D He also said the same as you about the art teacher we did the fairies with. :-)

You have been busy in the garden today AnnG. I wonder what happened with your ankle? A good sign if it was ok in the garden though. I do that with the tomato leaves to let any sun in. The bottom leaves get tatty this time of the year anyway. I finished cleaning the shower doors in the ensuite this morning and the mirror and cleaned a few scuffs off the conservatory walls.

You got a lot done in the garden AnnG. Of course you are right about Frank’s travels. Goodness knows where I got 10th from :-S. I think I am definitely going doolally!

Hope it is all ready on time Vera.

No it is the other ankle/foot but it seems a bit easier now and was not painful when out in the garden. I spent over two and ha half hours out there, clearing the new bed out the front and planting the 6 plants I bought plus a small heuchera T grew on from a cutting.
the I started to trim the very large lavender out there and cutting back some branches that went out over the pavement when it flowered this year. a buggy could just get by unless somebody parked there with two wheels on the kerb. I shall have to finish that job tomorrow I was too tired to do any more today. Still what I did was very satisfying. Oh I also cut the leaves off the tomatoes so the remaining green ones can ripen easier. (Monty told me to).

Frank goes to Devon today and flies to Spain Tuesday and comes home 18th September as far as I can see from his last post.

Overcast and just a bit breezy but not too cold here.

Mandy, Mr & Mrs Scarecrow are wonderful. You do have some good ideas. All the extra bits like the spider make it different and special. I hope you win.

Sorry to hear you have been in a lot of pain Island; ra is such a horrid disease. I’m sending you lots of positive vibes <3

Mel, I don’t think Frank was going for a few days yet though I haven’t looked back to check. I am sure he said a date in September - was it the 10th? Don’t overdo it in the garden and crock yourself up again. Have an easy day.

You take it easy too AnnG until your ankle feels better. Is it the same one that you hurt once before?

OH didn’t sleep quite so well last night but said his shoulders and arms aren’t too bad this morning so he’s had a good sweep up round all the paving in the garden and out the front. The garden paving is in sore need of a good clean up as OH hasn’t been able to do it this year. He doesn’t like pressure washing but I’ll have to persuade him to get someone in I think.

Better get on with cooking our dinner or it won’t be ready when I want it at 2 pm. I’ve got a small gammon joint in the oven but I need to get on with the veg.

Island I have messaged you.

Suns still out here Anng.

No sun here yet Mel but it is now 13 degrees.

Morning Anng and all,

Bit achey after yesterday up the border but will work through it if I can. We have sunshine so I'll send it up to you Anng. Its 13 degrees here. Blue sky as far as the eye can see.

Can anyone remember when Frank is going away? I suppose I can go back and see if he said?

Woken up with another gnat bite on the inside of the top of my leg and its itching like crazy.