General Chat

I slept reasonably welll last night but I had to put some socks on as my feet were like ice. OH got up and put a blanket over his bed. It’s bright and sunny and about 13 degrees but there is really cold North wind blowing soit feels quite chilly. The tall grasses are swaying in the wind and look great - from inside. There’s lots to do in the garden but it’s still a bit early to cut things down or lift plants to overwinter while everything is still blooming well.

Oops, phone call. BBL

I do have blanks and had thought of it when I was looking at cards yesterday, but our Anniversary is tomorrow so not much time now! He is going to a match this afternoon though, although I did think I should go out with my camera to see a scarecrow competition that's in one of the villages. It seems too nice a day to stay in with autumn and winter looming.

I should really clean out our waterfall container with the pump in. It has never been done yet and it's years since I built the waterfall. It will need some bending down like yours AnnG to clean out any sediment, but I can lift the pump out. I'm tempted to leave be while it still works ok.

I have a couple of packs of Alliums to plant with my few others. They give a nice pop of colour between everything else and don't need much care. The Heucheras come in some lovely colours and I like the purple ones too.

Good idea of Island's Ann. When OH is out at a meeting or football, paint a picture and make a card for him means a lot more than buying one.

It has warmed up a bit here ow and is 13 degrees. I was actually warm enough in bed and slept well last night for over 6 hours which is good for me.

I have planted 5 Allium behind the gravel plot and also planted the Heuchera I bought yesterday in a pot on the gravel.

I then had a go at cleaning the small fairy fountain but somehow I am just missing it getting back together properly so the fountain is not working at the moment. I had to stop fiddling with it because it has to be done in situ and I was bending over so my back started hurting. I shall try again later.

buy some blanks and make your own?

Morning All,

I was up early to see if I could find a better Anniversary card for OH from WH Smith down the road. Got there at 9.00am only to find they are opening at 10.00am this week! Called in the garden centre on the way back and nothing there that I liked (why are so many cards for men all about booze!). I nearly called in another shop but could I park anywhere near....no, so I will have to make do with what I have. Hello Kitty was sitting in the middle of the road up the close when I came back and staring intently at the hedge bottom. We thought we hadn't seen him for a while so it was good to see him even if he is risking one of his 9 lives sitting there.

OH has cleared a spot where I want to plant next week and is burning some of his work papers. There is quite a pile and more inside still to take out there but it seems quicker than shredding it all and I think he's quite enjoying it as he always did like a bonfire and misses having them here.

Yes this week has flown by and it is good to have got the car sorted as you say AnnG, another job done! The tyres should be fine for a while, less mileage with mine as OH's car gets most use these days.

Better start the poached eggs on toast now.

I was surprised at how thye are ripening now and I still have lots on my plants.

BIL is here.

Where are you all this morning?

Brrrr... it was chilly last night. Fleecy throw on top of the duvet :-0 It looks like single figures overnight now :-(
12 and sunny here.

Mel, I keep seeing more ripe tomatoes every day. I haven't weighed yesterday's haul but it must be at least 1.5 pound. Plenty of green ones still but they are slowly ripening.

Morning Anng and all,

Sunny and bright here too today but when I look at the car outside it looks like we've had a frost. It's 7 degrees here and pc says Humid. Really feels autumninal this morning but at the mo its dry.

I picked 2 and a quarter pounds of tomatoes yesterday so some will be going to Em today along with two cues.

Don't know where this week has gone, it seems its no sooner Monday than its Sunday again.

Mandy hope the family soon recovers properly from the bug and all feel better soon. Have you anyone stayig with you this weekend, the birthday girl perhaps?

good morning all from a chilly 5 degrees glos.

well done on the car passing its MOT. I guess the tyres won#t have had a lot of wear in the past couple of years so that is one benefit (maybe the only one) of lockdowns etc :-) good that it was not a lot dearer than the previous service/MOT at the old garage and good that you have found another garage near to you Ann.
Sorry the bug has spread through the family Mandy hope they have all bounced back now.

Probably gardening on the agenda for today, although not very warm it is sunny and bright out there.

I'm glad you were pleased with the new garage and your MOT. Nice to get it out of the way for another year.

That's a shame the others are getting the bug Mandy but it must be hard to avoid it once one has it. At least Chelsea should be better for her birthday and will appreciate some money she can spend on what she likes. What a shame you forgot about the white Michaelmas Daisy, but there may still be some next week if you happened to pop there again.

The car passed it's MOT and it seems I have a couple of years tread on the tyres and the timing belt won't need changing for 3 years so all good news and only £20 more than last year's service at the old garage. They had parked it in the best position to drive away easily as well so I shall be happy to go there again. As long as I avoid the rush hours it is only 6 or 7 minutes away so much better than driving into the city.

Afternoon all,

It started off as a nice sunny day but clouded over about eleven and down came the rain ,since then it's been showery ,its quite chilly ,I did nip up to the hole in the wall to get some money out to put in Chelsea's birthday card for Sunday.
You asked Ann if the others had got the bug ,yes Chelsea and yesterday Katie so looks like its going through the house .
When I went to town its market day and I meant to look on the plant stall as on the Tuesday market he had a nice white Michaelmas daisy and I thought I would get one but I came home and only thought of it as i got to the gate .

Oh I can see blue sky so I think I'll just go down to the shed while its fine to look in the freezer for something to have for our meal later .

I hadn't realised about those dots before either Vera! lol. I just had a vision of you in a strong wind. Mine's that short it just stands on end! These men don't think to ask if we need anything before they make something out of bounds for a while do they. Mine stacked the full food crates in front of the cupboards I wanted to put the stuff away in last week. Still at least he got the job done which is good.

I've no motivation today either, but it's because of the waiting around till the garage rings. I don't want to change into clothes to do jobs and then have them ring and have to change back again and I don't want to do anything messy in the clothes I'm wearing.

You do get such a lot of wildlife Mel and such a variety of birds which is lovely. That was good the showerhead was just loose and needed tightening. I know I feel good when I manage to fix something that turns out to be easy. I wonder if you will find any 'lost' things in the drawers.

It is a Dobbies that used to be Wyevale AnnG. With not going out to this garden centre for 2 years I hadn't realised that Sainsbury's had been moved in too. It is strange as you say and this one has retained the old butchery section and baking section from the farm shop that was there before. I was glad to see they have kept Pavers shoes that was there. Nowadays the bigger garden centres seem to sell everything don't they. It's a wonder the Sainsbury's section wasn't selling their own plants!! They did have a larger selection of plants and bulbs but no Michaelmas daisies though.

Only 15 degrees here and really quite chilly My friend's delivery arrived and she came round. She needed me to sort some photos out for the next photography meeting next week which I did then we made a quick visit to the local garden centre as I wanted another plant for the gravel and also wanted some tulip bulbs. I got a lovely Heuchera a very dark reddish purple one and struck lucky as they were on offer at £7.99 instead of £10. And got two packets of bulbs. so that will give me something to do over the weekend, although I won't plant the tulips just yet.

Ann that sounds as though it was a Dobbies, they took over a lot of the Wyvale garden centres just before Covid and they have Sainsbury's in all their garden centres. I don't know anyone who is impressed by that. I don't go to garden centres to buy groceries. And since they opened the stores they did away with a lot of the specialist foods they used to sell in the garden centre. Yes, they are dearer than many of the other GCs although to be fair they usually have a larger selection.

Vera, and I suppose you couldn't complain as you had asked him to do it. never mind, a good excuse for not doing the gardening.

WE had a kingfisher in the garden on my pond once many years ago. Oh got a couple of photos but I don't know where they are now.I'm lucky in that we have so many different animals and birds in our garden.

I did think I may hear from BIL today but nothing so far and the grass is growing after all that rain we had.

I managed to mend the shower this morning so had a nice long one. All it was was the nut that holds the hose of the shower head had loosened so I tightened it up and hey presto it stayed on. I was so relieved it was something silly like that.

Its 17 degrees here now and it says expect partly sunny skies, the high wil be 17 degrees on this breezy day.

Morning All,

Nice to see 13 degrees in C this morning and lots of sunshine. :-). I was lucky taking the car in and must have just missed the traffic build up as it was nose to tail on the way home after OH picked me up at the garage. The children were on their way to school then too and you should have seen them loaded up with drinks, crisps and treats coming out of the Co-op on their way.

Our plan to burn OH's old work papers today have been thwarted as the neighbours one side came back from their travels this morning. We had hoped they wouldn't be back till tomorrow.

Gwyn I'm the same as you and used to go mushrooming with mum as a child. Now I just don't trust myself to be sure what is edible!

Yes your window cleaner is good doing the door Vera as is yours AnnG. I think ours dribbles more dirty water down the door instead!

We called in a garden centre we hadn't been to since the pandemic after dropping my car off and had a drink in their cafe which is huge with at least 100 tables. Two other couples were there sitting well apart and we spotted a neighbour from up the road was one. He and his wife came over for a chat before they went. We were saying we hadn't had a chat for over 2 years and then travelled this far to have one! OH found himself a book in The Works and I got some sellotape and clear glue. Some of their plants were nearly double the price of those in the village garden centre. Some of the franchises had gone like Peacocks and I have never seen Sainsbury's in a Garden Centre before! There were big gaps where they have started putting up their Christmas displays.

We pass a Christmas Tree farm on the way and thought they must have sold them all at first as we couldn't see any. Then as we got closer we noticed the whole field of them had died and were brown, probably all that heat we had. I meant to say that when I cleared the door pockets in my car doors a plastic pen in there had melted in all that heat we had, luckily onto a sudoku puzzle I always keep there! It's a wonder it didn't melt the car plastic too.

I hope your friend's delivery turns up early AnnG as it's a nice day to go out. I have never seen a Kingfisher.

Good morning everyone

It’s sunshine and cloud today. At the moment the sun is out but it looks as though it might cloud over again. 14 degrees but there is a strong breeze from the North so it feels quite cold.

How nice that the people where you went to eat remembered you Ann. Lovely to see the Egrets as well. According to the wildlife column in the local paper we now have Red Kites in the area though I haven’t seen any yet. Thanks for telling me how to set the widget thingie so the computer now shows centigrade. I hadn’t noticed the 3 little dots though I hadn’t looked very hard.

Mel, I had wondered about the baby birds as well. If they are swallows are they going to be strong enough to fly south in a week or two?

We have a sort of dressing area in the bedroom with a wall and a half of wardrobes with sliding doors. For months I have been asking to OH to fix some of the doors which needed just a little work done on them. Without telling me he did it while I was showering and when I finished he told me I mustn’t touch the doors yet so I can’t get to my hairdryer. I was going to dry my hair and then go and do a bit more in the garden but I won’t go out in this breeze till it’s dry. My hair stays where it’s put so if the wind blows it all about I’ll end up looking like something the cat dragged in. I’ve brushed it and will have to let it dry naturally which may take a while. I am not in the mood for h/w so I shall have to go and find something to do.

I think I’ll go and make a cuppa. That’s my answer to everything ;-)

If they are swallows Mel aren't they a bit late? Hope they are ok.

Ann, nice to meet up with people who remember you after so long. It will be nice for you if they do bring the carvery back.

Gwyn your weather sounds about the same as ours. I actually have long sleeves on today as it is quite chilly indoors out of the sun. (no heating on yet here.)
Lovely to see Egrets, I have not seen any here but I know tony did see one a couple of years back at the stream by the golf club. He saw a kingfisher there too.

Good morning both and everyone.

Not so sunny here today, but not cold.
Temperature shows 12 with a bright sun partially hidden by cloud.... seems about right, as now the sun is shining !

Are they true mushrooms Mel ?
If so, they have so much better taste than cultivated ones.
I've picked and eaten loads of wild mushrooms in my life, but strangely, I think I would be wary of gathering them now unless it was an area I had known them to previously grow.