General Chat

That is the sort of 'find' that catches you out Mel <3

Make sure you eat something regularly, small meals are fine and just what you fancy Get yourself treats in your on line shop. Try and keep your strength up as you don't want to be ill.

I have frozen all mine Gwy. They freeze well but I don't wash them till I am going to use them.

Just having some toast amd my mate. One of Frank's favorits. I never used to have breakfast but with not eating much I thought I better have something.

I found in his study this morning a roses tin and when I opened it it had 4 outers of fountain pens he had turned on his lathe and loads of wine bottle stopper in wood and a seed case that has holes in it. There are pulls for light switches too. Its years since he did turning.

Good morning all.

Annx
Interesting regarding the instructions about bird feathers... They are everywhere lately outside our house from the resident noisy seagulls.
Unfortunately, they nest on many house or bungalow roofs locally and are very vocal of late :-0
When we got back home after a week away on holiday, there were 2 dead young gulls in our garden. They seemed to be unmarked, ie. not mauled by cats etc.
I reported this to DEFRA, as it was unusual to find 2 at the same time and I was aware of bird flu. The chap on the phone gave me a case number and asked me to notiffy them if I found more, but thought the birds could have suffered from heat exhaustion ( it was the week of the hottest UK heatwave)
I thought he might want to collect them for testing, but he seemed happy with his own analysis of the situation and just told me to carefully wrap them up and dispose of them in the household bin.

A beautiful sunny morning here and Mel's post about fruit picking has made me think I ought to check out the local blackberry bushes. I have margarine pots saved in readiness to take some up to my son and we will probably have ours in a crumble, although, to be honest, I haven't used the oven much lately with it being so hot..... It's been mostly variations on a salad for us.
I could always freeze the fruit for cooler times though.

Good morning AnnG and all

I might be wrong but I thought the Tesco problem was national and seems to have been some sort of systems failure. I hope they have got it sorted now and your delivery turns up. I checked on some old photos and found we went to Lacock in 2014 and I think it was a day trip by coach. It must have taken well over 3 hours each way so I am surprised we went. Nowadays we don’t usually do day trips if they are more than 2 hours from here. I do remember we enjoyed it and it was a very hot day.

Your OH definitely sounds as though he’s clearing space for more books Ann ;-). I read Gone Girl a few years ago as well. I have a vague recollection of the story but I’m blowed if I can remember the ending. I shall have to reread it. I think it may have been made into a film.

Bramble jelly was one of my favourite jams when I was a kid Mel. I’ve never done jam in the microwave. Apparently I can make jam in my breadmaker as well but I haven’t tried it yet. I rarely make jam these days but maybe I should do more.

Mandy, you asked what dessert I am doing for tomorrow’s garden party. I kept changing my mind but decided on Mandarin Dream. It’s light and people seem to like it. It’s also very easy to make with just mandarins, a jelly and a tin of evaporated milk. It came from a recipe leaflet from an old Woman magazine of 1963, supposedly written by Jean Metcalfe. There’s a name from the past!

I’ve been having a lot of problems with my left eye recently so have made an appointment with the optician for Thursday. I go annually and it’s only 6 months since I last went. The receptionist warned me I might have to pay for this check up but apparently it’s down to the optician to decide whether payment is required or not.

I got up at 7.15 and made a cup of tea which I brought back to bed but it’s time I was up now. Have a good day everyone.

Morning Anng and all,

It cloudy but british here this morning and at the mo its 18 degrees and pc says partly sunny. Its funny here because I can have sun to the south and clouds to the north.

BIL is coming this afternoon to my second set of draws together for me so I better have a bit of a tidy up today. I have papers all over the place.

Good morning all. slept well last night, even had the duvet back over me.

Mandy Is that just local Tesco to you? I have not seen anything here, mine is due tomorrow.

Quite bright out there, yesterday was sunny, temp now is 15 degrees.

I wonder what's happened at Tesco's Mandy. Some will be relying on their deliveries. Yes, you have OH weighed up! :-) When I jokingly said at least he'd have some space to get new ones he said 'that's what I thought'. He's a devil! lol. I know what he'll be wanting from Santa!! He seems to have got the bit between his teeth and says he's going to sort some more before he goes out tomorrow. I've still got my provisional licence I think.

Mel I watched the first of the farming prog and have it recorded. I've seen the 2 farmer brothers in another farming prog and I like Ruth anyway. Wasn't it good! There was a lot about wartime that I didn't know. I forgot to record the Owen family one, but must see if I can find it.

The geese are flying morning and night now, but we need to be careful cleaning their presents off the cars as we have Bird Flu in the county. The advice is to not even touch any feathers we see on the ground.

Mel, yes it had water. Cynth said it was running across the road so moving fast and it would have been when it got cooler. I don’t suppose we will know.

I cleaned the big girls out this afternoon and they surely needed it. Then I had a G & T by my pond like we used to and now I feel all sloppy. Think I will have egg bacon and beans tonight.

Mandy there's a program on on channel 5 about farming with Rob and Dave Nicholson who have that farm in Yorkshire and I watched it last night and then afterward i watched Ben Foggle and he was at Ravenmeet with the Owen family and they showed him when he visited 5 years ago and now. I know you like that sort of thing.

Anng hogs can sqeeze under a very small space so don't worry it could'nt get in there. It may have been feeling the heat from the last couple of weeks or could'nt get any worms to eat. Were you leaving water out for it?

Anng did Cynth notice if he had a suitcase with him ,he might just be off on his hols :-D :-D
Sounds like you had a nice day out yesterday, good idea to take something for your lunch as it saves queueing for something and I expect the price of a sandwich has gone up like everything else.

Ann i bet OH has his eye on some new books and that's why he's having a clear out :-D

Oh blimey Mel you can't go through that jungle you'll have to leave if until they all die off a bit .
Have you checked the license isn't in with any bank cards OH had ,if its a card license it might be with them .
I still have my paper one and the one before that in a little red book type thing .

Had a good dust and hoover round mopped the bathroom floor and the hearth in the front room which was so dusty .

Well the rain soon cleared and it turned out to be a nice sunny day ,we sat out for a while thuis afternoon and I could quite easily have nodded off .

Looks like Tesco has problems ,all delivery's cancelled from one o'clock today ,how long for a don't know .

Mel I have done that, put the house right next to the compost bin. forced the bin cover closed at the bottom and put some bedding inside the new house. The entrance looks small but all the houses had the same sized entrance so they must be able to squeeze in. I did see on TV in Country file I think. Talking of hedge hogs and this was a rescue centre. she said if you see a hedge hog out during the day report it as they are only out if they are in trouble. But I Had not seen Cynth since Monday to talk to so it was several days ago that she saw it. I didn't usually check it as I didn't want to disturb it.

I missed your post there Mel! OH picked a few blackberries from over the field fence at the bottom yesterday. Most are small with being under that hot sun though. I expect you have some nice juicy ones. Gosh don't the weeds get tall this time of the year and I can well believe it as I can see the nettles behind the trellis at the top of our 6 foot bottom fence. We had some of our tomatoes with salad and a jacket pot today. I still think the Gardener's Delight are the best of our 3 plants. The skins on the bigger sort seem a bit tough. They will all blitz down to a sauce to freeze to go with lamb mince though.

I hope the hog returns AnnG after you going to the trouble of getting a nice home for it

I've done some shredding and OH suddenly got a second wind and went out and did a bit of weeding as well. He emptied the shredder and then I heard some banging around in the 2nd bedroom and he'd fetched a cardboard box in from the garage and had decided to sort more of his books that can go to the charity shop. I think he's looking forward to making room for some replacements! lol.

I've decided I prefer using paints rather than pastels for art as they smudge easily and the fixatives change the colours in your pictures. We haven't sold anyhing on Ebay before, so tomorrow I'll take some photos, look up what to do and see if I can advertise them.

Anng still put the hog house where its near the compost bin if you can as it could well be back. Put some of its nest in it and it will smell where it was cosy.

I picked 1lb 12ozs of brimbles and when I got back down here a load of tomatoes. Had six for lunch with a sandwich.

O the weeds and nettles round his car are as tall as me so I am not venturing in there.

You won't believe this. I have just reseived the hog house I ordered. And, guess what, the hog is not in the composter. Cynth said a couple of days ago she saw a hedgehod out the front crossing the road in the daytime. I know that hey only go out in the day if they are not well so I went and checked and now it seems I have a house but no hog, could have saved that £30.

Thanks for letting me know what you'd scored for the book at the time AnnG. I will put it to one side and have a read before it goes to the charity shop. It says it was a best seller at the time so should be quite good. The Abbey and your day out with your friend sounds really great and interesting and it was a good idea to take your own lunch as I know I hate queuing. I'm so impressed you walked so far during the visit too, probably further than the ramblers, but as you say there was so much to see. I expect the rail strikes may have caused more traffic when you were coming back.

I've a bit more paperwork to do, then I aught to do a bit of deadheading of the geraniums and pull a few weeds out now the rain has hopefully made it easier. I've a letter I need to post so I may pop out too.

sounds like you had a wonderful time out at the Abbey and it was sensable to take sandwiches. Will you be putting some pics on your blog?

I have just picked a basket full of brimbles hav'nt weigh them yet. May make some brimble jelly for the winter if I can find some jars. I do it in the microwave so it dos'nt take so long.

Ann I read Gone girl in 2016, I can't remember the story but I checked my list and it says it was Very good. I obviously enjoyed it but it didn't get an 'excellent' from me.

Yesterday Barbara picked me up at 0845 to drive to where the coach goes from. Coach left promptly and we had almost a full 56 seater. It took just over the hour to get to Lacock which is between Chippenham and Melksham. We arrived about 1040 so Barbara and I made straight for The Stables cafe where we had coffee and shortbread. We wanted to beat the crowd as there were three coaches in.

I had been there once with T and, I am not sure why but we just visited the village not the abbey, I have a vague recollection that the Abbey was closed that day. We were members so if it had been open I am sure we would have gone in.

We just about finished seeing all we wanted to see by 4pm which left us an hour before the coach left to sit down and enjoy an icecream

We both thought it was a great place for a day trip, so much to see. Beside the abbey there is a museum devoted to William Henry Fox Talbot the father of photography in the UK. He discovered the process of making a negative from which to develop photographs. Both of us found that interesting as we did the other exhibition in the museum by (I think) Mandy Barker She had a series of bright attractive photos of a horrible subject called plastic soup. it was all particles of plastic recovered from the ocean. and there was one photo of, I think 270 odd particles of plastic found in one Albatross. We thought this should be shown on TV or, at the very least, in schools.

The Abbey was not what we expected as the title conjures up visions of ruins. It is a lovely large building, originally an Abbey founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.Eventually made into a home and many times used in films such as H Potter. It still has parts of the Abbey incorporated such as the beautiful cloisters and the Sacristy etc. (from google Sir William Sharington, purchased the abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries and turned it into his country house. He incorporated the cloister into the design of his home, an unusual move, and added Italian-inspired Renaissance architecture, including an octagonal tower. It is a very interesting and beautiful building in vast grounds. I won't bore you any more, I could go on for ages. We took sandwiches so didn't need to fight the crowds for lunch and easily found a seat where we could eat them.
We left promptly at 5pm, about a third of our group had been walkers, they set off to do five miles but I think did over 7 and arrived in good time to have a cup of tea before catching the coach. We got back to Churchdown at 6.15pm, The M4 was horrendous but luckily that is a fairly short part of the journey the M5 was fine. I was very ambivalent about going because it was the first trip I had done without T but it was fine, seemed strange carrying my own rucsac but it was OK. I really enjoyed Barbara's company and the whole day.

edited to put the correct name of the plastic soup lady

Morning All,

It's more sunny today but just a sheet was still enough last night and I slept well. My L knee is klunking less today so I hope it continues so I can soon get back to short walks now it is a bit cooler. The body's always spoiling good intentions.

I wondered where you were off to yesterday as well AnnG and look forward to hearing about Lacock Abbey.

Mel, after what you say, checking the car won't be a five minute job after all so it may be best to keep looking inside for now. Oh yuk, milk that's off is horrid isn't it!

It looks like a jobs day all round today. I've just been checking those sites that buy books for some of OH's books and have to admit they offer a pittance. He might as well take these 6 to the charity shop instead. There's one that's a thriller I might read called Gone Girl.

Morning all

We had a bit of rain during the night but it was bright when I got up at 7.30. It’s overcast again at the moment.

Mel, as Island says, don’t fret over the licence. Just tell the DVLA you’ve looked and can’t find it. I spoke to them on the phone about my brother’s car and found them helpful but you could write if you’d prefer.

AnnG, we went to Lacock Abbey a few years ago and had a very enjoyable day. I look forward to hearing about your trip.

Snap Mandy. I’m having a hoovering, dusting and bathroom cleaning day too. I’m doing a post to put off having to get the vac. out of the cupboard but I’d better get started.