General Chat

I suppose you could soak the fruit in orange juice its mainly to plump up the fruit but I should think it would be tasty with the orange might try that next time .

No rain here we can now see patchy blue sky .

I used to love tea bread Mandy but hav'nt made one for years now. Oh dos'nt like tea. The other one I used to make was a Bara Brith. Lovely cold and spread with a nice bit of butter.

Its been raining steadily since before 1pm here and oh is right cheesed off the only good thing is its filling the well.

I forgot to say I am going to daughters near Workington North Cumbria. so will take a mix of clothes. :-D

Afternoon all,

Dry so far today but there's plenty of black clouds bubbling up ,yes Mel the children have been but only Katie and Lacey as son and dil were busy, the girls came on their scooters its all open and all paths so they were fine, when they leave I just message son to say they on their way home but both the girls have phones .

Oh Mel hope you've caught the pond in time and you don't lose any more fish, I bet OH checked the other pond too .

Anng its a shame you haven't got a neighbour who could walk with you but it sounds a safe place to walk on your own.

Ann enjoy your lunch today what have you planned for your birthday lunch tomorrow I bet there's a nice pud or cake been stashed away :-D
I posted my card Monday i think it was ithought so it could be left to debug before opening .

When the girls were here they were looking st the bracelets I've made Lacey had a daisy one but Katie liked a different one but it was to big for her so I'm making a smaller one for this afternoon.


I can't remember where you said you were going either this time Anng ,hopefully you'll only need light things and a cardi if its a bit cooler, if its the lake district you might need a brolly .
Talking about brollies when we went to my sisters last week she said oh I need to show you my new brolly ,it was a double canopy brolly black on the outside but the lining but was so pretty it was like a summer garden all trees and flowers ,I've never seen one like it before .

Max is out like a light snoring away the girls played with him so he's tired out .

I made a nice Tea fruit cake/bread this week ,made with hot tea ,one where you soak the fruit over night in tea , I have one recipe which I make but this one is much nicer ,son and dil loved it so they are making one today.

Afternoon all

It’s warm here but a bit breezy and no sign of sun. It’s dry so far but it wouldn’t surprise me if it rained again this afternoon.

I’m glad the fish seem to be recovering Mel. It sounds as though the oxygen levels are picking up now and you’ll soon have the pond back to normal.

We had a lovely time yesterday. As it was a birthday meal for daughter I made a bit of an effort and got out the good china, glasses and cutlery and even made her laugh with a special printed menu card. The food all worked well though I had done far too much. Still it saved me cooking today, we’ll have leftovers. The annoying thing is OH had some beer and best part of a bottle of red wine, I had one small glass of wine. So why is he bright as a button today and I woke with a splitting headache that isn’t shifting? Life just ain’t fair.

Daughter brought me a box of veg. She grows some veg but also has a box delivered each week as granddaughter is vegetarian and daughter eats veggie meals with her most of the time. Her box this week contained a big bag of cherry tomatoes and she already had plenty so they have come to me, along with a celeriac which she doesn’t like. From her garden I got a big bag of salad leaves, spring onions, some baby carrots, 3 beetroot, one each of red, orange and white, some rhubarb and a very big garlic bulb. So I am well stocked now.

OH is annoying me a bit today though I’ve bitten my tongue and kept the peace. Yesterday afternoon he decided some of the blueberries were ready to pick. I asked him to leave them for a couple of days but no, this morning he has picked a load. The bowl has been put by the sink, presumably for me to wash and pick them over. Well, I am just going to leave it until he does something about them

If we are going to have any lunch today I had better go and do something with these leftovers. Enjoy your afternoon and evening everyone.

Rainin g here now so we are both indoors.

I don't like pine tree forests or weeds I find them oppressive so I am pleased the little wood is mixed trees, no conifers.

The Clarckson programme I watched was not his farm, I think it is a new programme called something like Clarkson on TV.

Tesco has been and gone one sub I refused I wanted the soft easy fill pittas but they substituted for some ready cut ones, they go dry so he took them back and refunded. Everything else was fine. Mostly I used this one to stock up on stuff that keeps like washing up liquid etc. It all goes in my 'put be store cupboard) upstairs

Morning All,

Sunny here at the moment but lots of darker grey in the clouds, so I expect there will be some rain today.

That sounds like a lovely footpath AnnG and a nice addition to your walk. The other side of the park near here is another footpath through a wider strip of pine woodland, just past the ice house to the old hall next door. This is a wider strip and more isolated, so I used to go with OH. It is spongy underfoot with the pine needles and scattered about are old sweetcorn cobs from the squirrels, who steal them from the field next to the trees. They had plans to build houses on the land a few years ago, but there was so much opposition it never happened.

I've forgotten where you are going this time , is it to stay with your daughter or are you all going somewhere else to stay? I hate deciding what top clothes to pack so good luck! I'm not keen on Clarkson either, but OH bought one of his books a while ago and said it was good. I keep meaning to watch his farm programme. You have a busy day!

That's good your fish are eating Mel. It could have been much worse couldn't it. Hearing about your OH painting the mowers is making me think of my times painting the carriages! It is very satisfying bringing things back to life with some fresh paint! I hate watching people take things to bits in case there's something left over when it goes back together again! When we had the new telly I asked OH to disconnect the wii and thought he would just unplug it from the wall and tv, but he pulled all the cables out of the console as well. I always mark the cables with coloured tape and the place where they fit when I do things like that so he wasn't popular when I had to work out what goes where after.

Our last delivered lunch will be here soon, but they have said they will deliver again if they end up with restrictions again.

OH has been under the big yellow Choisya cutting the dead wood back and is hot and weary now.

Not many about today? expect Mandy has the children round.

Morning Anng and all,

Grey sky here today so Anng send us some of your sunshine please? Its dry though and thats the main thing. Oh is oiut working on the big mower. He has stripped lots of it and painted it and some of it is going back together now. I really don't know how he does it and gets all the bits in the right place.

Hav'nt been out yet to see if anything has happened to the pond but the packet did say its a slow process. We fed the fish last night and they cam eup for the food so that tld oh they are not too bad.

Good morning, up bright and early as I have quite a full day today with Tesco 11-12, a friend coming this afternoon at 2pm for tea/coffee and chat, starting packing, washing and getting the garden ready for neighbour to look after.

I slept well until 5.30 but didn't get to bed until 11pm as got side tracked listening to Jeremy Clarkson's programme, no I never actually liked him in top gear but thought he was quite good in Millionaire His latest programme is funny, he talks about situations and makes fun of them, difficult to describe but in a way he reminded me of Dave allen (without the accent). Just talking about everyday things. Made me laugh anyway which can;t be a bad thing.

Sun is up bright and early too, wonder if it will last. so far I have showered and washed my hair and put the bedding in the wash.

Annx it is a lovely little wood, small stream runs through but more of a ditch at that point, Across the ditch is a fence to a footpath that runs beside the golf club, mostly hidden by trees. It always feels safe but I am aware that so do a lot of places

That sounds just like our Bouskell park in the next village AnnG. It has trees along one side with a nice path down the middle of them. When I could go for walks, I used to walk down that myself as it was quite visible and usually had people about. I wasn't sure what your wood was like!

Off to bed now. The forecast is rain here so the washing can wait. Wednesday is supposed to be dry I think.

I have those gladiolus in the border but they are carmine pink and yes they do come up every year but only if they are in a sunny sheltered spot. They could also be kaffir lillies which come in pale pink or darker reddy pink.

saw the fish feeding this evening. Oh has put a huge areator in my pind and some ablets that are supposed to clear the water.

Its raining again tonight so may top the well up again.

Just to say re the woods. I am careful and it is a narrow strip of trees forming the wood with many gaps opening to the park so not really enclosed and adjacent to houses as well so not really isolated but I do stay alert. Walking through with T we have seen people but recently I haven’t..

Evening All,

It's been dry all day here, not a drop of rain so I wish I'd done another wash now. Maybe the forecast will be dry tomorrow.

Gwyn I didn't know the other half of what was LloydsTSB were doing the same and adding a monthly fee to some accounts. Yes, you get switched too and save money! :-) I wonder if those pretty pink flowers you saw may have been gladiolus communis byzantinus. I see them a lot in gardens in Cornwall and they come up every year. Is this like them?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiolus_communis#/media/File:Gladiolus_byzantinus02.jpg
I've never been to Leeds Castle but had a google and it looks very impressive and well worth a visit.

Some good and some not so good news today. Tomorrow is the last day our Sunday lunch will be delivered with everywhere opening up soon. They said we would be able to come and eat in with them. I think not! The super duper good news is that after searching on various websites for the past few weeks and looking at hundreds, I have managed to find another Japanese vase identical to the one that got smashed when OH was getting the mattress out. It has cost 3 times what I paid over 30 years ago but OH insisted on paying for it as he broke it! I'm still going to see if I can repair the other one or get it repaired. The seller has dated it 1920-1930 but can't identify the maker either.

Neither of us felt like doing much today, but after lunch I watered and fed the pots, cues and toms and courgettes and OH refilled the 4 cans. Then we both had a 20 minute weeding stint, but were too hot by then and we came in. I cut his hair next and he trimmed his beard and emptied the hoovers after getting the bits upand I descaled the kettle and taps. OH then cleaned the bits of the dishwasher the cleaner doesn't reach and I wiped down the worktops so we did get quite a bit done in the end. Normally he would be at footie, but is waiting for the better matches to start.

I know I have had a few cards arrive for Monday, but OH hides them away before I even see any have come! ;-)

Might some copies of your poly pics still be on your camera Mel? I don't know if you download them to your PC or copy them to it like I do. I hope your fish are looking better now.

We thought the motorway 2 fields away seemed quieter than usual today AnnG. I told OH that probably everyone is at the supermarkets today buying food and beer for tomorrow's final. Be careful in the woods you walk through if you are on your own. I've had 2 scary moments of seeing men hiding in woods and both times I was with someone. Once one man had overtaken us and then had stripped his clothes off to wait. so be careful.

I've been catching up with and enjoying Dick and Angel again. It always seems so sunny at the Chateau. How lucky their 2 children are. I would have loved their childhood living there and how brilliant to have a mum like Angel and being inspired with all the crafts!

I have been searching for my poly clay craft pics and I hav'nt kept all of them. Found some though.

Just been for a 1.5 mile walk, extended yesterdays by walking through the woods around the park. still only saw 4 people icluding the same postman, and that was including walking through two estates and the park. No children on the swings etc when you would think there would be.

Getting ready for the shop now then the rest of the day is mine.

Island I shall have to find some of my poly craft things to send you as you asked if you could see some.

Not a garden centre just a nursery and we (first hubby) only did markets and being in a walled garden we called it Bloomers Nursery.

sounds ideal for a day to refresh yourself from all the indoor days Gwyn

Ah yes Mel the garden centre/nursery would be a help some names would stick.